Garry Angus, 49, was found dead in a pool of blood in the kitchen of his NewsXpress newsagency in Bendigo's Pall Mall in October 2011.

His wife made the grim discovery just after midnight on October 18 when she went to collect him from work. He had gone to the premises to catch up on some bookkeeping.

A postmortem found that Mr Angus suffered 30 stab wounds that a pathologist deemed had been inflicted with "severe force" to his torso, hands and face, along with a deep cut to his throat.

Empty beer cans were found at the scene, along with cigarette butts, which were found to contain the DNA of Antony John Duguid.

Victoria's Supreme Court heard on Monday that Duguid, now 47, also of Bendigo, told police he had been expecting them when they arrested him the following day.

He admitted that he had purposely gone to the newsagency to kill Mr Angus and had thrown away the knife, which was later recovered by police.

But both the prosecution and defence agreed that Duguid was mentally impaired at the time.

The court heard Duguid had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for more than 20 years after experiencing drug-induced psychosis in 1992. He had being hospitalised several times over the years due to his recurring symptoms and was off his medication when the planned fatal stabbing took place.

Duguid had a history of auditory hallucinations and wrongly believed when he killed the married father of two that he was a covert police officer who was tracking down criminals in area.

He had also expressed strong views against homosexuality and repeatedly got tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

The court heard Duguid referred to himself as "Crow" and lived by what he called "Crow's Law". He had written a detailed explanation of his belief system and also believed animals were providing hints and directions about what to do.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Danny O'Sullivan testified that Duguid was "acutely psychotic" when he stabbed Mr Angus and that his condition had been chronically untreated.

Another psychiatrist, Dr Prashant Pandurangi, said Duguid told him he had gone off his medication in the weeks or months before the killing.

He said Duguid told him during their consultations that he had gone to police about his concerns regarding local law-breakers, and when they did nothing, "he took matter into his own hands".

Dr Pandurangi said while Duguid knew what he was doing, he did not know that what he was doing was wrong.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain was satisfied that Duguid was mentally ill at the time of the stabbing and remanded him to Thomas Embling Hospital until December 10, while a report into his psychiatric condition is prepared.

Mr Angus' wife, Jenny, and children Belinda and Timothy wept in court as details of his death were aired. They declined to comment outside court.

Story courtesy of The Age

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