Trial
Xiang pleaded not guilty before his trial to two counts of murder and five of attempted murder on account of mental impairment.
During his two day trial in June 2004, prosecutor Sue Pullen presented evidence that Xiang felt the killings were his destiny. Evidence showed that Xiang had joined the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia in April 2002, and gained a handgun licence in June 2002. One lecturer, Gael Martin, told the court that she had expressed concerns about his mental state a week prior to the shootings. Evidence was offered that he harboured delusional beliefs that William Wu was an agent of evil and would destroy him academically, and that his actions on 21 October 2002 focused on fulfilling a perceived destiny to kill Wu.
The defense and prosecution in Xiang's trial agreed that he suffered from a paranoid delusional disorder. The prosecution asked the jury to find him not guilty. On 17 June 2004 the Victorian Supreme Court jury found him not guilty of the murder of Wu and Chan and of the attempted murder of five other people in the tutorial room due to mental impairment. Justice Bernard Teague ordered Xiang be transferred to the Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital. He may be held there for as long as 25 years.
Read more about this topic: Monash University Shooting
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
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—Bible: Hebrew, Job 9:32-33.
Job, about God.
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—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)