A man described as "floridly psychotic" who killed his girlfriend 12 years ago has been spared punishment and sentenced to a hospital order. Ozekell Empire strangled and inflicted blunt force trauma to 23-year-old Andrea Carr at their home in Nechells in December 2014.
The then 30-year-old confessed "I've killed her" on his doorstep to his neighbour, who found the victim's body in the bedroom. Empire was deemed unfit to plead due to long-standing paranoid schizophrenia and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. A jury later concluded he "did the act" of killing Ms Carr. Following improvement in his illness, he formally pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility in March this year.
On Monday, June 8, at Birmingham Crown Court, he was sentenced to a hospital order and restriction order. Judge Heidi Kubik KC concluded Empire "retained a lower level of responsibility for the killing." The court heard that a few days before the fatal attack, Empire's Clozapine treatment had been stopped due to his failure to engage with increased blood tests, something he had a fear of. Psychiatrists concluded he was acutely mentally unwell, having suffered a relapse of his symptoms.
Empire was described as being "floridly psychotic" at the time he killed Ms Carr. The fact he smoked cannabis and may or may not have taken alternative medication that was prescribed to him were considered to be minor issues. He had since been remanded at the Tamarind Centre mental health facility in Birmingham. While there had been improvement in his illness, progress had been slow, the court heard.
Empire's prognosis was "poor," and there was a possibility he would never be well enough to be released. Judge Kubik told him: "You have suffered continuous schizophrenia for many years and your condition remains treatment resistant. Even though you have been compliant with medication and free from cannabis while housed in a secure mental health unit for the past 12 years, your hallucinations have persisted. As the present offence demonstrates, your illness has the potential to lead to offences of the utmost gravity. I conclude you are dangerous and are likely to remain a danger to the public for the foreseeable future."
She continued: "If there ever comes a point at which you can safely be released into the community, there will be a risk of you becoming non-compliant with medication or relapsing in any event due to the treatment resistant nature of your illness - and in consequence becoming acutely unwell and dangerous once again. If acutely unwell, the facts of the present case demonstrate the danger you pose is of the utmost gravity. I therefore conclude that you are and will remain dangerous for the foreseeable future."
Judge Kubik ruled out a "penal element" to his sentence, such as imprisonment, having considered the killing was driven by his mental illness and that he had already been detained for 12 years in a hospital. The restriction order means Empire can only be released by the Secretary of State or a mental health tribunal. He would then be subjected to conditions, strict psychiatric supervision, and would be swiftly recalled to hospital if he showed signs of relapse.
