Chad Johnathan Hardy: Man who killed group home housemate with hammer not guilty of murder due to insanity

A man who bludgeoned his housemate to death at an NDIS-funded property in the South West has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. Chad Johnathan Hardy attacked Johnathan Peasley, 40, while he slept at their Australind house in October 2023. The 35-year-old used a hammer he’d stolen from Bunnings to strike Mr Peasley at least 15 times to the back of his head. Hardy last week faced a two-day judge-alone trial in the Supreme Court of WA, where two forensic psychiatrists said he had treatment-resistant, chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Suffering a long-standing psychosis, he experienced delusions and auditory hallucinations — hearing voices and believing he was getting messages from the TV. Hardy believed he was being sexually assaulted in his sleep in a conspiracy orchestrated by Mr Peasley. “I was just doing what I had to do, mate,” Hardy told detectives. “I didn’t plan it. I’m not proud of it. “I didn’t want any of this to happen. It wasn’t a thought-out process. “I just thought I had to do it . . . end his life, sort of thing.” Justice Terence Palmer delivered his verdict on Monday, accepting the psychiatrists’ expert opinion that Mr Hardy had the capacity to control his actions and knew what he was doing, but was deprived of the capacity to know that he ought not do it. The judge noted Hardy had been so tormented by his mental illness, he went to throw himself off Bluff Knoll in WA’s Great Southern region but decided against it. Hardy is now subject to a custody order, for life, with prosecutor Paul Usher saying prison was “the default” until the Mental Health Tribunal determined where he would be kept. Justice Palmer said the secure Frankland Centre within Graylands Hospital would be the best option. Lifeline 13 11 14