Man who shot cousin over gold watch ‘did not know his conduct was wrong’, judge rules

A man accused of shooting his cousin following a dispute about a gold watch has been found not guilty by reason of mental incompetence.

In a judgement handed down in the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice David Lovell found Dennis Childs, 46, did not know that his conduct was wrong when he arrived at his cousin Barry Evans’s house and shot him in the neck and shoulder.

Mr Evans was injured but survived the October 2018 shooting.

Justice Lovell said the pair had not seen each other for 23 years prior to the attack, but they maintained a close relationship during childhood.

He said on the afternoon of the shooting, Mr Evans had consumed a small amount of methamphetamine, but acted in “an apparently normal manner” while waiting in line at a Centrelink office.

Later that afternoon, Mr Childs arrived at Mr Evans’s brother’s house asking for a gold watch.

“It appeared that the defendant had an unexplained, sudden desire to retrieve the watch,” Justice Lovell stated in his judgement.

“The existence and whereabouts of the watch was unclear.”

Mr Childs later visited Mr Evans’s house believing the watch was in his cousin or aunt’s possession.

His cousin previously told the court Mr Childs looked at him through his screen door “like a rabbit or a snake” and “seemed to be getting pleasure from it”.

After pulling at the door, Mr Childs shot Mr Evans to the ground.

Two forensic psychiatrists previously gave evidence that Mr Childs was mentally incompetent to commit the offence of attempted murder.

The court heard Mr Childs had previously been admitted to the James Nash House forensic mental health facility suffering hallucinations and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

It also heard that Mr Evans had described his childhood relationship with the accused as “positive”, but that it “broke down, many years before the shooting, when the defendant was in prison”.

“The defendant had threatened Mr Evans … [who] kept away from the defendant and said that he ‘didn’t see or hear of him again over the next 23 years or so until Tuesday, 30 October 2018’,” the judgement stated.

Prosecutors argued Mr Childs was mentally competent to be charged with attempted murder and aggravated endangering life, but Justice Lovell rejected their argument.

“I find, on the balance of probabilities, that at the time of the shooting the defendant did not know that his conduct was wrong; that is, he could not reason about whether the conduct, as perceived by reasonable people, was wrong,” he stated.

“I find that the defendant was mentally incompetent to commit the offence.”

Mr Childs currently remains in James Nash House.