Royce Mallett, who died in 2024, has been described as “a loving father” with a “cheeky smile”. Photo: Facebook.
A man has been declared not criminally responsible for the stabbing death of a British father.
On 8 July 2024, David Summers-Smith stabbed British tourist Royce Mallett in the chest.
Both men were staying at a motel in Albury, in regional southern NSW, but were unknown to each other.
Mr Mallet was declared dead at 6:59 pm that evening, after being taken to Albury Base Hospital.
In making her verdict, Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia found that the act was proven, but Summers-Smith was not criminally responsible.
“The result of that one act was both catastrophic and tragic,” she said.
According to her decision, the then-29-year-old had purchased a pack of four steak knives on the day of the stabbing.
That evening, Mr Mallett was sitting in the driver’s seat of a car in the motel’s carpark when Summers-Smith came up to the vehicle.
“[He] dived through the open driver’s side window and stabbed the deceased once in the chest. He did not say anything.”
At about 6:15 pm, Summers-Smith fled the carpark on foot.
Following the stabbing, he made three calls to Albury Police Station between 8:45 pm and 8:56 pm.
He told the triple zero operator that he had “stabbed someone” and that the knife was “in a bush somewhere”, according to the decision.
Summers-Smith was ultimately arrested and taken into police custody at 9 pm.
While in custody, he told police where the knife was using Google Maps. It was later recovered.
The court also heard that his DNA was found on the car window and on the knife’s handle.
In her verdict, Justice Yehia acknowledged the “devastating impact” of Mr Mallett’s death on his loved ones.
“The court acknowledges the loss and grief that the family continues to experience and extends its condolences to them,” she said.
The court heard how Mr Mallett’s partner now had to raise their two children alone.
“She described the deceased as a loving father who played an active role in the children’s lives,” Justice Yehia said.
Mr Mallett’s parents also wrote of their ongoing pain.
His father described Mr Mallett as his “best friend”, while his mother remembered his “cheeky smile”.
Justice Yehia said they were “deeply affected” by their son’s death.
“They are unable to comprehend why their son was killed and how the accused could have been in the community with a treatment resistant psychiatric illness,” Justice Yehia said.
Justice Yehia received two reports on Summers-Smith’s psychiatric history.
Both experts said he was psychotic at the time of the stabbing, as a result of schizophrenia.
A forensic psychiatrist who assessed Summers-Smith concluded that antipsychotic medication, prescribed in 2024, was ineffective.
Justice Yehia found, based on the expert evidence, that this meant he was “most likely irrational and paranoid” at the time of the offending.
“[The forensic psychiatrist] observed that, at the time of the assessment, the accused was exhibiting signs of psychosis in the form of ongoing delusional beliefs, and that he lacked insight into his illness and treatment need,” she said.
Summers-Smith also told a second forensic psychologist that he purchased the knives out of paranoia.
This psychologist said that, at the time of the stabbing, Summers-Smith was experiencing persecutory delusions and hallucinations.
“[He appeared] unable to reason with any degree of composure about the wrongfulness of his conduct during the incident due to persistent symptoms of psychosis, including the period during which he ran away,” she wrote in a report prepared for the court.
The court also heard that he had occasionally used methylamphetamine since 2022, as well as cannabis since he was a teenager.
However, the second forensic psychologist stated that his drug use “resulted in an exacerbation of his psychotic illness”.
The verdict means that Summers-Smith will remain in custody.
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