A mentally ill Frenchman who fatally stabbed two other backpackers at a north Queensland hostel while under a delusion that people wanted to kill him won’t go to trial.
Smail Ayad, 30, dragged British backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, from her bed at the hostel, in the state’s north, and stabbed her multiple times in August 2016.
Her mother Rosie Ayliffe wept in the Brisbane Mental Health Court on Thursday, as criminal charges against Ayad were dropped and he was sent to a mental health facility.
A mentally ill Frenchman who fatally stabbed Mia Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) and another backpacker at a north Queensland hostel won’t go to trial
Smail Ayad (pictured) dragged British backpacker Ms Ayliffe-Chung from her bed and stabbed her multiple times in August 2016
Criminal proceedings against Ayad (pictured) were dropped on Thursday after Brisbane Mental Health Court found he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack
Ms Ayliffe, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, told the court that she was haunted by thoughts of her only child’s last moments, wondering if she felt pain and whether she knew ‘she was going’.
She cried as she read a victim impact statement, telling how tributes had come in from all over the word acknowledging her daughter’s kindness and how tolerant of others and full of love she was for all those she met.
‘Many, many nights I lie awake thinking about my daughter’s last moments and how it must have felt to her to lie dying,’ she told the court.
‘Did she feel pain? Did she know she was going? The images haunt me.’
Court heard Ayad killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) and repeatedly stabbed British backpacker Tom Jackson
Mr Jackson (pictured) was trying to help the 21-year-old when he was fatally stabbed by Ayad
Ayad was under the delusion that 50 local farmers and hostel staff wanted to kill him and would burn his body in a pizza oven when he allegedly killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured)
Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s (pictured) mother Rosie told the court that she was haunted by thoughts of her only child’s last moments, wondering if she felt pain and whether she knew ‘she was going’
She said she wanted everyone to understand that the man’s acts of violence had robbed her world of her beloved daughter, who had everything to live for.
‘I am proud to have been her mother and I will hold her in my heart until I die,’ she told the court.
Court heard Ayad sufferred a ‘psychotic episode’ before going on a stabbing frenzy in the backpacker hostel, which began when he repeatedly stabbed Ms Ayliffe-Chung in her bedroom.
The hostel manager tried to stop Ayad after he fatally attacked Ms Ayliffe-Chung, but was himself stabbed in the leg.
Ayad jumped headfirst from the first floor balcony, sustaining neck and back fractures in the fall.
Four psychiatrists have assessed Ayad, who was initially charged with murdering Ms Ayliffe-Chung and Mr Jackson (pictured)
The court heard Ayad (pictured) will likely be repatriated to France
Ayad jumped headfirst from the first floor balcony of the hostel, sustaining neck and back fractures in the fall (pictured is the scene of the killings)
He then got up and stabbed the hostel owner’s dog, the court heard.
‘This was an extraordinary action and I think, in the context of all this offending, points to how frightened he was and how ill he was,’ Justice Jean Dalton said on Thursday.
The court heard Ayad returned to the room where he had killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung and repeatedly stabbed British backpacker Tom Jackson, 30, as he tried to help the 21-year-old, who was doing temporary work on a farm.
Mr Jackson died in hospital later.
Justice Dalton discontinued criminal proceedings against Ayad after finding he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.
Ms Ayliffe-Chung was killed at Shelley’s Backpackers in Home Hill, Queensland, a popular place to stay for backpackers doing rural work to fulfill visa requirements
Backpacker Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) was staying at Shelley’s Backpackers when she was killed
Bloody footprints on the footpath just outside Shelley’s Backpackers
Ayad, who had smoked up to four joints a day since he was 12, was under the delusion that 50 local farmers and hostel staff wanted to kill him and would burn his body in a pizza oven.
Statements submitted to the court by other backpackers stated the French man had been acting strangely and sending text messages that did not make sense, despite previously being polite and good-mannered.
‘He thought that a cleaner at the hostel had told him he would be killed when he went to check out and he thought the owner of the hostel was making excuses as to why he couldn’t leave,’ Justice Dalton said.
‘He interpreted her as telling him that he had to die.’
More blood was found splattered on the floor of the hostel in one of the communal areas
Pictured is the scene where Mr Jackson and Ms Ayliffe-Chung were killed by Ayad
Mr Jackson’s father Les told the court he thought of his son at the beginning and end of each day.
‘For me, sleepless and disturbed nights with visions of my defenceless son being attacked by a knife-wielding professional martial arts fighter or lying in a coma in a hospital bed are not uncommon,’ he said.
Four psychiatrists have assessed Ayad, who was initially charged with 16 offences, including two counts of murder.
Criminal proceedings against him were dropped after the court hearing, but he will be detained in a mental health facility.
The court heard he will likely be repatriated to France.