An African refugee has been jailed for life for murdering an elderly man and trying to kill his wife in Perth because he felt “disrespected” by their foster son.
Pasifique Zawadi Niyonyishi, 19, stabbed and bashed Colin Norton, 81, to death and stabbed his wife Margaret, 75, inside their home in Greenwood on March 4 last year, and was emotionless as he was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Monday.
Justice Michael Gething described Nyonyishi’s offending as a “callous and senseless act of unimaginable violence” in sentencing him to life imprisonment for murder, to be served alongside 10 years’ jail for the attempted murder of Mrs Norton, with a non-parole period of 18 years.
The court heard that Niyonyishi, then 19, had been drinking with a school friend named Charlie and other friends at a hotel when the pair got into an argument, and Niyonyishi was asked to leave.
He then told friends that he wanted to stab Charlie, saying in a voicemail “I want to kill that nigger” and “that nigger is dead”, before taking a taxi to the Norton home, where he was welcomed inside by Mr Norton at 7.40am after saying he wanted to wait for his friend.
While Mr Norton was doing folding towels in the laundry Niyonyishi took a knife from the kitchen and repeatedly stabbed him, stabbed the family dog, and then stabbed Mrs Norton when she came to investigate.
Mr Norton grabbed a metal pole to try to defend his wife from Niyonyishi, but the killer wrestled it off him and struck him in the head with it multiple times, causing fatal traumatic brain injuries.
Niyonyishi changed his pants and shoes in his friend’s bedroom and fled the scene, but was tracked down and arrested by police in a nearby suburb.
He told the arresting officers his friend had “disrespected him” and he “wanted to kill [Charlie’s foster parents] so that [Charlie] could live the rest of his life knowing the pain”, State Prosecutor Elisabeth Noonan told the court, The West Australian reported.
The court heard that Niyonyishi was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania and has PTSD from being exposed to extreme violence including machete attacks, and witnessing his father assault his mother.
The family moved to Australia, and arrived in Perth in 2014, ABC News reported.
Defence Barrister Helen Prince told the court her client also suffered bipolar disorder and hypomania, and called evidence from a forensic psychiatrist who diagnosed Niyonyishi as being in a state of hypomania and disassociation when he left the voicemail.
“He was repeating himself continuously, he was very pressured and highly emotional. He told me that he understood what he was going to do was wrong but he felt he could not stop himself,” the psychiatrist said.
“That tells me that he was in that time in a manic state already and that lasted in my view over that period of time that the offence took place until the (police) interview.”
He also told the court that Mrs Norton’s testimony that Niyonyishi’s eyes looked black when he stabbed her showed a “major change in his mental state”.
Justice Gething found that Niyonyishi’s mental illnesses were a factor in the attack, telling him “no one in their right mind would have done what you did”, but said “Colin and Maggie did nothing to cause you angst, they were entirely innocent victims in this act”.
He said Mr Norton, who the court heard was a selfless man and lived his life in service of others, died a “horrible death from your persistent and violent attack” and that Niyonyishi’s attack on Mrs Norton was no different.
“[Mrs Norton] had just seen her husband on the ground, with you standing over him, holding a knife. You started stabbing her. She was scared for her husband and for her life. You chased her and kept stabbing her as she ran, no doubt running in terror for her life.”
The Nortons, who had cared for Charlie since he was three weeks old, were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the time of the attack.
Header image: Left, Niyontishi after his arrest. Right, the Nortons (supplied).
