Man on Trial for Mother's Murder Claims Supernatural Beings Attacked Him

A man standing trial for the murder of his mother has told a court he repeatedly struck her with a pickaxe handle while he was panicked and "under attack" by "supernatural beings".

Warning: This story contains images and details that may be distressing to some readers.

Bo Sebastian De-Simone, 40, of Crafers West, is standing trial in South Australia's Supreme Court after the director of public prosecutions rejected his guilty plea to manslaughter over the death of his mother, Linda Simon, 62, in March 2022.

Prosecutor Kos Lesses previously told the court the two had a "volatile" relationship that resulted in Mr De-Simone "bashing his mother to death with a wooden axe handle".

On Wednesday, Mr De-Simone gave evidence and told the court he had taken methamphetamine the day before he killed his mother, on what he believed to be "around" March 24, 2022.

"I attacked her … I hit her with a pick[axe] handle," he told the court while being questioned by his barrister, Jane Abbey KC.

Hallucinations of yellow-eyed creatures

The court previously heard Ms Simon's body was discovered in a woodshed behind the house on April 1, 2022, and that it was the prosecution's case she had been killed between March 22 and April 1, 2022.

Ms Abbey asked her client why he attacked his mother, to which he responded: "I felt panic that I was under attack … [by supernatural beings]."

"They had yellow eyes, and they could move their bodies in strange ways," Mr De-Simone explained.

"They wanted to take me out of society because in their eyes I'm weak … because I wasn't molested when I was a baby."

He told the court the hallucinations had started months before the incident and were consistent with his drug use.

Mr De-Simone also told the court he hit his mother "on the side of her head" three or four times.

"Did you have a purpose for doing so?" Ms Abbey asked him.

"No," he responded.

The 40-year-old went on to explain that the blows to his mother's head happened "really quickly" and were "close together".

"She fell down against the wall and blood sprayed out of her head," he said.

He said he later left the house to buy drugs.

Questions over pickaxe blows

In cross-examination, Mr Lesses asked Mr De-Simone what the "supernatural beings" had to do with him attacking his mother, to which he responded: "Nothing directly."

"I did think she was telling them things about me," he later said.

Mr Lesses later put to Mr De-Simone that he was "making it up now to excuse your behaviour".

"You're not being serious about this are you? The supernatural beings," Mr Lesses asked.

"Yes I am," Mr De-Simone responded.

Mr De-Simone denied continuing to hit his mother with the pickaxe handle once she was on the ground, but Mr Lesses said the evidence showed he did.

"I'm suggesting out of the sheer anger and hatred that you harboured towards her that even once she ended up lying on the ground you slammed that axe handle into her another four times on her back. Do you agree with that?" Mr Lesses said.

"I didn't hate my mum," Mr De-Simone responded.

Mr De-Simone also became emotional on Wednesday as he read a letter he had written to his mother before her death.

"It's emotional … I love my mum," he told the court when asked why he was sad.

He later added that his mother was supportive and "sometimes she would help with things I needed … sometimes she would help me financially".

The trial continues.