Chad Johnathan Hardy: Mentally ill man charged with murdering housemate in NDIS-funded group home on trial

A man who killed his housemate at an NDIS-funded property south of Perth bludgeoned him with a hammer while in the grip of a long-standing psychosis, believing he was getting messages from the TV. Chad Johnathan Hardy began a judge-alone trial in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, charged with murder over the violent death of Johnathan Peasley, 40, in Australind in October 2023. In a rare occurrence, the prosecution and defence agreed on the facts in the case, but Justice Terence Palmer is determining whether the 35-year-old can be found not guilty by reason of insanity. “I was just doing what I had to do, mate,” Mr Hardy said in his first interview with detectives, which was played in court. “No-one deserves to get hit in the head 10 times with a hammer. I didn’t plan it. I’m not proud of it. “I didn’t want any of this to happen. It wasn’t a thought-out process.” He described the 40-year-old as being asleep yet awake when he attacked him lying in bed. In his second interview, after Mr Peasley’s life support machine was turned off and Mr Hardy’s charge was upgraded, he said he had been receiving messages from the TV. “I just thought I had to do it ... end his life, sort of thing,” Mr Hardy said, adding an apology to the victim’s family. Two forensic psychiatrists, Adam Brett and Elizabeth Tate, were called by the defence and prosecution, respectively, and were in complete agreement. Mr Hardy had been a tiler, running his own business, but came under a guardianship order after becoming severely mentally ill. He was diagnosed in 2015 with treatment-resistant, chronic paranoid schizophrenia, suffering auditory hallucinations and delusions. “I think he’s been psychotic probably for at least 10 years,” Dr Brett testified. Dr Tate said Mr Hardy believed “that he was being used, molested and tormented by the victim and others in a conspiracy”. On the question of mental impairment, the psychiatrists answered questions about three key factors. Both said they believed Mr Hardy had the capacity to control his actions and knew what he was doing, but was deprived of the capacity to know that he ought not do it. “His psychosis was so severe that he could not reason properly,” Dr Brett said. Dr Tate said Mr Hardy was not fully compliant with his prescription medication regime and had used illegal drugs intermittently in the weeks and months before the killing. But the schizophrenia symptoms were still present when he wasn’t abusing substances and would have persisted even if he had been taking all of his required medication, she said. If Justice Palmer finds Mr Hardy not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, he will need to be kept at a suitable facility.