A police interview conducted with Guilherme Von Neutegem, the 37-year-old man just found not criminally responsible for the murder of Mohammed Aslim Zafis, and made an exhibit at the court hearing, has been obtained by Global News.
During the two hour, 20-minute interrogation, Von Neutegem is told by Toronto police homicide detectives that he is under arrest for the first-degree murder of the volunteer caretaker who was sitting outside the International Muslim Organization mosque and is told he’s being investigated for another murder.
Charges were never laid in relation to the second homicide.
After being read his rights, Von Neutegem is asked his name and replies, “the name of my current physical existence in this planet is Guilherme Von Neutegem.”
He repeatedly denies he killed anyone despite the fact detectives tell him they have video of a man who appears to be him, at the mosque, committing the murder.
Von Neutegem is shown still photos of surveillance video of someone who appears to be him at the mosque, earlier arriving in a car that belonged to his father, and later seen returning to his apartment, but Von Neutegem continues to deny responsibility.
During a videotaped interview which was recorded six days after the offence when Von Neutegem was arrested, he also speaks about being in a “state of struggle,” said that he is a “higher existence” and that “everything is designed to hypnotize people to zombies.”
Two forensic psychiatrists who assessed Von Neutegem over a 60-day period at St Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton concluded despite never having any formal psychiatric diagnosis previously, he was experiencing signs and symptoms of untreated schizophrenia at the time of the index offence.
The psychiatrists noted that after the police interview, Von Neutegem later admitted to doctors to killing the stranger.
“While he appreciated the nature and quality of his actions, his perceptual disturbances and delusions impaired his ability for rational perception and also his ability to make a rational choice about the moral wrongfulness of his actions,” they noted.
They also considered whether Von Neutegem may have been driven by specific violent or Islamophobic beliefs, but found there was very little to support that. “This man does not have a history of violence, has not uttered any Islamophobic statements and does not appear to belong to any specific right wing organization exposing hatred towards people of the Muslim faith”.
The judge accepted the opinion of the psychiatrists who found that Von Neutegem was suffering schizophrenia and did not appreciate the moral wrongfulness of his acts.
The Ontaio Review Board now has jurisdiction over Von Neutegem.
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