Alleged murderer 'didn't look deranged'

A cleaner accused of murdering her elderly client didn’t look deranged or mentally ill in CCTV footage taken just before her visit, a Sydney jury has been told. And Hanny Papanicolaouo’s later animated police interview didn’t demonstrate signs of a mental disorder, psychiatrist Dr Adam Martin said on Friday. The 38-year-old regular gambler has pleaded not guilty to murdering 92-year-old Marjorie Welsh, in her inner western Sydney home on January 2, 2019. She has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of substantial impairment due to an abnormality of the mind, but this was rejected by the Crown. After sounding her medical alarm Ms Welsh told responders that “Hanny” beat her with her own walking sticks, hurled ceramics down upon her and used a kitchen knife to repeatedly stab her in the chest and abdomen. Ms Welsh died six weeks later in hospital, but not before telling police “Hanny the housekeeper” had viciously attacked her. Dr Martin told the NSW Supreme Court jury Papanicolaou gave lengthy detailed answers to police in her interview 12 hours after the altercation. She said the elderly woman turned violent, accusing her of stealing $50, and said she tried to defend herself when Ms Welsh hit her and thrust a knife at her. But in her June 2020 interview with Dr Martin, and in an interview with another psychiatrist, Papanicolaou said she had no recollection of what happened. The “highly inconsistent” accounts were in “stark contrast” and just didn’t add up, Dr Martin said. During the police interview, Papanicolaou did not look classically depressed, was “very animated”, coherent and spontaneous, as she gave an exculpatory explanation of the violence. “I think you can infer from that she was aware of right from wrong. “She was expressing almost indignation at being falsely accused.” CCTV footage taken an hour before the altercation showed Papanicolaou driving into the Canterbury Leagues Club carpark , scanning her membership card, playing the poker machines and twice going to an ATM machine. “She doesn’t look deranged, she doesn’t look mentally ill,” Dr Martin said. She looked well-kempt, was able to drive and play the machines, she wasn’t gesticulating wildly and appeared to be operating at the required level. Papanicolaou lost $430 in under an hour, and was left with just $11 in her bank account, while the Crown has alleged she knew Ms Walsh had come into $8 million. Dr Martin noted that in the lead-up to the killing, she was described as being reliable, a good worker, personable and a good conversationalist, attributes which were not consistent with having “major psychiatric pathology”. Someone with a major depressive disorder may appear dishevelled, hunched, have very little movement, a flat expression and not engaged in the person’s normal activities. Medical records showed she was screened for depression months before the altercation and her score was zero, while she was reported as having no mental health issues when taken into custody. Under cross-examination, Dr Martin accepted at the time he interviewed Papanacolaou in jail she did have a major depressive disorder. He also accepted that such a disorder can interfere with memory of past events. But he said it was “unlikely” that this may have prevented Papanicolaou from remembering what happened on January 2. The trial continues.