Dad 'psychotic' at time of 3-year-old son's murder (Perth, Australia)

Dad ALIYA ZILIC is on trial for the murder of his 3-year-old son. Zilic is accused of slitting the little boy's throat then throwing his down a remote mineshaft out in the Australian outback. The defense is claiming that Dad was "psychotic" at the time of the murder.

What is not explored in the article below is how a father who was apparently this mentally ill had access to this child at all. That's answered in a May 2008 article, which states that Dad took off with the child from the mother's house on what was supposed to be a two-day visitation, and then never returned him. So let's ask the obvious question: WHY DID THIS FATHER HAVE CUSTODY/VISITATION RIGHTS, AND WHO GAVE THEM TO HIM? I suppose this is another child fatality that can be chalked up to Australia's mandatory joint custody laws, which are proving a disaster to the overall health and safety of children.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/dad-psychotic-at-time-of-sons-murder-20091125-jqs8.html

Dad 'psychotic' at time of son's murder
STEVE LARKIN
November 25, 2009 - 1:49PM

AAP

A "loving father" accused of slitting his son's throat and throwing the body down an outback mine shaft was psychotic at the time of the killing, his lawyer says.

Perth man Aliya Zilic, 33, has been charged with murdering his three-year-old son Imran, believing the child was the devil's helper.

But his lawyer, Bronwen Waldron, has told the SA Supreme Court that Zilic's psychosis "obliterated any sense of what he had done and what he was doing".

Justice Margaret Nyland has been asked to determine if Zilic, 33, was mentally incompetent at the time of the murder to stand trial.

Zilic allegedly killed his son at Coober Pedy in SA's far north between April 20-24 last year, and prosecutors claim he then fled further into the outback.

He was arrested in the West Australian town of Kununurra on May 1 last year, after travelling through outback Northern Territory on a "bizarre odyssey", Ms Waldron told the court on Tuesday.

Ms Waldron said there was a "religious overlay" to the killing, saying Zilic had been described by family members as a "loving father" considered incapable of harming his son.

Zilic had experienced schizophrenic episodes since 2001 but had stopped taking medication in the months before the killing and had "bizarre oblivionism to the horror of what happened", she said.

Ms Waldron argued Zilic was, due to the mental illness, incapable of controlling his actions at the time.

After the killing, Zilic returned to a Coober Pedy dug out where he had been staying with his son and washed the murder weapon in a "respectful, almost religious cleansing", she said.

He then drove, without trying to conceal his identity or vehicle, throughout the NT and into WA in the actions of a "damaged psychotic man trying to go through the motions of life", Ms Waldron said.

When arrested by police, Zilic denied involvement in the murder, because "when you are speaking with the devil, you don't have to tell the truth", she said.

Prosecutor Jim Pearce has told the court Zilic believed his murdered son to now be in the hands of God.

Mr Pearce on Tuesday said Zilic was mentally ill at the time of the murder but "it's a question of whether he was able to control his actions".

Mr Pearce said Zilic was "a man on the run" and "a man who was trying to lie his way out of trouble" following the murder.

Justice Nyland reserved her decision.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=572056

Mourners remember little Imran Zilic
20:04 AEST Fri May 30 2008

A Muslim service has been held at a Perth mosque for Imran Zilic, whose body was found in a SA mine.

Tears fell for a young life tragically lost as an Imam sang verses from the Koran over the grave of three-year-old Imran Zilic, whose body was found at the bottom of a mine shaft in outback South Australia.

The Perth youngster's death was all the more heart-wrenching for his family because his father, Aliya Zilic, has been charged with his murder.

Imran's body was found earlier this month in a seven metre deep mine shaft, 47km south of the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.

His grieving mother, Mirsada Halilovic, was joined by several hundred people mostly from the Bosnian Australian community to which they belong, for a Muslim funeral for her son at Perth's Karrakatta cemetery.

Imam Burhan Selim told those gathered he had been shocked by the little boy's death.

"He was very, very young," Imam Burhan said.

"He was three-years-old. We believe he is sinless."

Imran's small simple wooden coffin was lowered into the grave and laid on its right hand side to face Mecca.

Water was gently poured over the mound as Imam Burhan recited prayers from the Koran.

Men, women and children wiped tears from their eyes and bowed their heads as they stood in a circle around the grave site.

Sajit Smajic, President of the West Australian Bosnian Islamic society, told the mourners Imran would go straight to paradise.

"A young life is gone for nothing," he said.

"The lesson to us is that this little boy is innocent. Maybe he is the lucky one who goes straight to paradise.

A pine wooden board bearing Imran's name was placed at the head of the grave which was then covered in a thick carpet of flowers.

Mr Smajic said the tragedy had united Perth's Bosnian, Croats and Serb communities for the first time since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and members of all the communities were at the funeral.

Earlier, a brief service was held for Imran at the Mirrabooka Mosque, in Perth's northern suburbs.

His body was brought to Perth from Adelaide on Thursday.

Aliya Zilic, 32, is accused of killing his son near Coober Pedy some time between April 21 and April 24.

He was extradited from Perth to Adelaide on May 14 and has been remanded in custody at a psychiatric facility while he awaits a court hearing on August 1.

The boy had been taken by his father on a two-day custody visit from his mother's Perth home on April 20.

Zilic was found in Kununurra, in West Australia's far north, on May 1 and was held in Perth's Graylands Hospital until his extradition.