Australian Man murdered parents with axe for laughing at cat's death*

By Nick Clark

August 04, 2007 01:00am
Article from: The Mercury

    * Man killed parents with back of axe
    * Thought mother had poisoned his pet cat
    * Psychiatric report to be done before sentencing

A 43-YEAR-OLD man exploded with rage and killed his elderly parents with
an axe after his mother laughed when the man's pet cat died, the Supreme
Court in Launceston heard yesterday.

Stephen Alexander Harper pleaded guilty to the murder of Roderick
Alexander Harper, 88, and Helene May Harper, 77, on August 30, 2006.

Crown prosecutor John Ransom said Harper killed his parents with a
number of blows to the head with the back of an axe on the day his cat
Tootie died.

The court heard Harper believed his mother may have poisoned the cat.

"He snapped and killed them and told friends his parents had treated him
like dirt," Mr Ransom said.

"He believed his mother had poisoned the cat because she laughed about it."

He had then gone and smashed up his flat before re-entering the house.

He hit his mother with a backhand blow knocking her to the floor.

The court heard Roderick Harper had entered the room with an axe and
called Harper a "f..king mongrel".

Harper had grabbed the axe and hit his father more than 10 times and hit
Mrs Harper with seven blows.

He then travelled to a friend's place and confessed.  Police were then
called.

The couple's bodies, with massive head injuries, were found side by side
in their Abbott St home.

Defence counsel Evan Hughes told Justice Alan Blow that Harper was
highly educated with numerous qualifications in psychology.

"It is tempting to think this case is about the death of a cat," he said.

"But it wasn't. It was an explosion of rage which welled up from
unresolved issues that had bubbled and simmered under the surface from
childhood experiences.

"The triggering event was his mother's reaction to his hurt and grief at
the loss of his cat."

Justice Blow has called for a psychiatric report and remanded him in
custody for sentence on August 31.