WA health system blamed for deaths

A Tasmanian jury has found a former WA man not guilty of murdering his parents on the grounds of insanity.

Professor Gavin Mooney outside his Tasmanian home. Source: News Limited

Dr Delys Weston who died at the hands of her mentally ill son. Source: News Limited

THE family of a mentally ill man who bludgeoned his mother and stepfather to death have blamed failures by Western Australia's health system for the tragedy.

Nicolau Francisco Soares, 29, killed renowned academics Delys Weston and Gavin Mooney with a hammer and block-splitter at their southern Tasmanian property in December 2012.

Soares was on Thursday found not guilty on the grounds of insanity by a Tasmanian Supreme Court jury after a trial lasting three-and-a-half days.

Outside the court his brother, Alex Soares, became emotional as he criticised the WA health service in a prepared statement.

"We love and support our brother Nick," Alex Soares told reporters.

"We understand that what has happened is a direct result of, one, his untreated mental illness and, two, the failures of the West Australian mental health system."

Mr Soares accused health workers of ignoring the family's pleas for treatment.

He said the family had been aware of his brother's symptoms, including paranoia and delusions, and that he had stopped taking his medication.

"We were the ones who pleaded with Nick's treating team for an increased level of care," Mr Soares said.

"Despite our parents' unwavering love for our brother and absolute resolve to getting him help, we were ignored and cut out of his treatment.

"How could this have happened?

"What a tragedy that it ultimately cost the lives of two remarkable Australians, two loving parents ... to get their son the help they knew he needed."

The jury took little over an hour to reach their verdict.

Prosecutor Linda Mason had joined Soares's lawyer Rochelle Mainwaring in urging they find he was not criminally responsible for the horrific killings.

"As gruesome as the killings were perhaps provides the best insight we will ever get into Mr Soares' thought processes at the time," Ms Mason said.

Soares showed no emotion as the verdicts were announced, glancing briefly at family members in the gallery.

The court heard he had a history of schizophrenia dating back to 2006 and had been involuntarily hospitalised three times in WA.

He had gone to stay with his parents, who moved to Mountain River south of Hobart in 2011, while still a client of a WA clinic but after a community treatment order had lapsed.

His delusions led him to believe he was destined to join the army's special forces to learn skills to fight government surveillance and a coming apocalypse.

Soares decided to kill the couple when he overheard a phone conversation between one of them and a pharmacist requesting medication.

He believed the medication was poison and he would be hospitalised again, meaning he wouldn't be able to join the army.

"He was in the grips of his schizophrenic illness ... which, with devastating result, deprived him of knowing the difference between right and wrong," Ms Mainwaring said.

Justice David Porter ordered two psychiatrist reports and remanded Soares in custody until his next court appearance in July.

Western Australia's health department has been contacted for comment.

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