Catholic Church organist admits killing mother
Pastor Dale Morgan
Catholic Church organist admits killing mother*
January 31, 2007 02:36pm
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIA - A MELBOURNE Catholic church organist has admitted to killing
his mother with a claw hammer but denied it was murder.
The Victorian Supreme Court was told that 62-year-old librarian Susan
Randall was making a sandwich in the kitchen of the Cheltenham home she
shared with her son Simon when he hit her from behind with a claw hammer.
He then knelt down, rolled his mother over and repeatedly hit her on the
head with the hammer, crown prosecutor Michael Tinney told the court.
"It was morning, she probably felt secure in her own home, in her own
kitchen, with her own son - she wasn't," he told the court.
Mr Tinney told the jury that Randall, 27, had snapped after his mother
criticised him for quitting his music studies at Australian Catholic
University and gaining weight.
"She was heard to be muttering `pathetic, you are giving up your
future'," Mr Tinney said.
Mr Randall was a part-time musical director and organist for the local
Catholic church.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser crime of
manslaughter.
The trial before Justice Simon Whelan continues.