Teen who killed his stepfather has a 'delusional belief system', jury told
A teenage army cadet who violently killed his stepfather has a 'delusional belief system' involving artificial intelligence, jurors have been told.
Vladimir Ivashikin claims he has been receiving information by an organisation – called 'The Makers' – who hope to create a world which is run by machinery.
At the age of 16, the now 22-year-old, attacked Dr Barry Hounsome in his home in Southcroft Road, Gosport, with a hammer, knife and electric drill, blaming 'voices' in his head for his actions. He was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and after pleading guilty in 2019 to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility was sent by a judge to a secure hospital.
However, in 2022, Ivashikin allegedly admitted to a nurse that he had 'fabricated' his symptoms, and that he had killed his stepfather, 54, because he had wondered 'what it would be like' and 'how powerful it would feel'. He is now on trial for murder after doctors concluded he wasn't mentally ill.
Jurors at Southampton
Crown Court heard evidence from two forensic psychiatrists who assessed him last year and told the court they believe Ivashikin is in fact suffering from a psychotic illness – which is most likely schizophrenia.
Dr Bradley Hillier told the court he had created a 'delusional world'. He said: "There was a big system of bizarre ideas that somehow all linked together in quite a complex way. Involving this idea about The Makers, the human species being reproduced, genetic materials and things like this."
In a statement read to the court, Dr Lucy Bacon said Ivashikin told her that the voice in his head was of an Eastern European male, in his 30s or 40s, who was not known to him. According to the psychiatrist, the voice started talking about killing and would tell Ivashikin what to do.
Dr Bacon said over time, Ivashikin became 'accustomed' to the voice being present and he told her it became 'my new normal'. Ivashikin felt as if he had to follow the 'disturbing' and 'shocking' requests of the voice in order to 'reduce its intensity'.
"If he did not so what it said it would get more intense, more commanding," she said.
Describing the attack at the family home in October 2018, the 22-year-old told the doctor the voice told him to kill his stepfather and he felt as if he did not have control over his body. He did not feel as if his arm was acting under his own control at this point," Dr Bacon said of Ivashikin attacking his stepdad.
The trial heard last week that Ivashikin attacked Dr Hounsome while telling him 'Sorry, Dad'.
John Price KC, prosecuting, told the court the then-16 year old had called 999 after the attack saying he had hit him over the head with a hammer 'many times' and stabbed him with a knife.
After being arrested, Ivashikin told doctors he had been 'unable to resist' the voices which had commanded him to kill his stepfather, jurors were told. However, the court heard he had never mentioned hearing voices before and that the three doctors who diagnosed him as suffering from mental illness relied on him honestly telling them what was going on 'inside his head'.
(Proceeding)
After being arrested, Ivashikin told doctors he had been 'unable to resist' the voices