Son kicked parents to death, court told.

[sew850i]

A Perth man was intoxicated and could have been sleepwalking when he kicked his parents to death in their home, a court has heard.

 

Vernon Silich, 44, of Nollamara in the city's northeast, went on trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Monday, charged with the wilful murder of his parents Robert George Silich and Faye Lorraine Silich, both 65, in 2008.

 

On the first day of the trial, prosecutor Ken Tavener told the court Silich was drunk and angry when he kicked his parents to death wearing steel-capped boots on April 8 or 9 of that year.

 

Mr Tavener said Silich had called a friend on the morning of April 9, telling him, "I don't know what I've done, I just went berserk. I went mad."

 

His friend arrived at home of Mr and Mrs Silich in Yokine, in Perth's north, where he discovered the bodies.

 

Silich's lawyer Tom Percy QC said the deaths were motiveless and bewildering.

 

He said his client enjoyed a loving relationship with his parents and there was no animosity.

 

Silich could have been sleepwalking when the attack occurred and experts said his blood alcohol level could have been as high as 0.39 per cent, a level that would leave most people clinically dead, Mr Percy said.

 

Long time friends of Silich, husband and wife Cono and Ruth Onofaro, said in evidence that Silich, a taxi driver, had visited their mechanical repair business on April 8.

 

Mr Onofaro said that in the 28 years he had known Silich he had only known him to enjoy a very good relationship with his parents.

 

"He'd do anything for them," Mr Onofaro told the court.

 

During his visit on April 8, Silich had spoken of buying a present for his father's birthday before going to his parents for dinner, Mr Onofaro said.

 

Mrs Onofaro said Silich was "not one of those rolling drunks" and she had never seen him angry or violent in the 24 years she had known him.

 

She said he was a jovial character who joked about and teased their new apprentice during his last visit to the repair shop.

 

Silich's friend Paola Lutero said she had spoken to him late on April 8 after he failed to turn up at a blues club.

 

Ms Lutero said he answered the phone about 11.25pm that night.

 

"He said he was at his mum and dad's house having a few drinks," she said in evidence.

 

"He was talking fine and sounded fine, just normal."

 

She said Mrs Silich could be heard in the background asking after Ms Lutero's son.

 

The trial, set down for nine days, continues.

 

 

 

SOURCE: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1030626/son-kicked-parents-to-death-court-told

[420 HELI]

It's ok 'cause he was drunk? Kicked em to death in his sleep, give me a break... just hang the douchebag.

 

:)

[sew850i]

i know right?

 

funny how alcohol doesn't get a bad name in this situation.

[Indycar]

Do you want alcohol to get the blame in this situation, sew850i?

[sew850i]

not entirely. it wasnt really the alcohol's fault if he was sleepwalking because anything can happen when you sleepwalk. What i meant was if he happened to be stoned when this happened, chances are that the media would say something bad about cannabis.

[Innocent criminal]

not entirely. it wasnt really the alcohol's fault if he was sleepwalking because anything can happen when you sleepwalk. What i meant was if he happened to be stoned when this happened, chances are that the media would say something bad about cannabis.

 

We all know that if he was stoned not drunk the media would be all over it like flies on the proverbial!!

Every cliche reefer madness headline in history would have been pulled out and given an airing.

 

Cant really say it was the alcohols fault but it would definitely be a factor, even if he was only moderately pissed it would still influence his mental state (however I wonder if he was on any prescription meds as well?).

Either way it's all lawyer talk, they will blame it on anything they can get an expert to testify about (other than him being a psycho of course).

 

[miccyj]

We all know that if he was stoned not drunk the media would be all over it like flies on the proverbial!!

Every cliche reefer madness headline in history would have been pulled out and given an airing.

 

Cant really say it was the alcohols fault but it would definitely be a factor, even if he was only moderately pissed it would still influence his mental state (however I wonder if he was on any prescription meds as well?).

Either way it's all lawyer talk, they will blame it on anything they can get an expert to testify about (other than him being a psycho of course).

 

 

Pfft, if he was stoned, the worst that would have happened is that he burnt the house down while trying to cook chicken nuggets (I have set the kitchen on fire before).

[Indycar]

not entirely. it wasnt really the alcohol's fault if he was sleepwalking because anything can happen when you sleepwalk. What i meant was if he happened to be stoned when this happened, chances are that the media would say something bad about cannabis.

Maybe, but this tit for tat stuff does nothing more than both/any drug getting a bad name. Which in turn see's legislation getting written up with more stringent controls, which eventually affects our freedoms. The way todays governments work within Australia nowadays are acting that people cannot be trusted anymore, so they're trying to protect us from ourselves.

 

Which is entirely the wrong approach in my honest opinion. People need to be held more accountable for their fuck up's, so others that don't have a problem with such things (drugs). Don't have their civil liberties fucked up the arse in the process. Just because a minority screw up from time to time.

 

Yes, the bloke screwed up. Neither Alcohol or sleepwalking should be used as angle used to soften the act to which he carried out on his parents. It's because of cases like this over the years that we're losing our basic freedoms, hand over fist.

 

Make people held accountable, instead of trying to protect us from ourselves.

 

EDIT: I really wish some stoners would pull their heads outta their arse just for once, and stop concerning themselves with what's happening on the cannabis front alone. And look at the bigger picture and see what's happening to our civil liberties on a whole. As we're losing out on so much more.

[Mudguts]

Well said Indy. Great perspective.

 

MG

[Rocker]

Yes, a well written piece Indy.

 

We live in an age where everything/everyone gets the blame except the perpetrator. And then we all suffer because of even more draconian laws.