A Perth father who doused two of his children with petrol and set one alight had been drinking and smoking cannabis on the day of the offences, the WA Supreme Court has heard.
Edward John Herbert has pleaded not guilty, on account of an unsound mind, to five charges including attempting to kill his two daughters at the family’s home in Doubleview in August 2015.
The children were aged seven and three at the time, with the younger girl suffering burns to her upper body and face.
On the first day of Herbert’s judge-alone trial Justice Lindy Jenkins heard the child had suffered “severe and life-threatening” burns and would be permanently scarred.
Herbert’s cannabis use had ‘doubled’
Prosecutor Amanda Forrester told the court Herbert was a regular cannabis user and drinker.
His partner tendered a statement to the court which said Herbert had been “getting angry all the time” and had “doubled his cannabis use” in the lead up to the incident.
She said he had smoked cannabis throughout the day in question and consumed alcohol before he began to get angry that evening.
She tried to keep him calm as his anger escalated and feared for her life.
The woman said at one point she heard Herbert say “the werewolf is coming at 12:00pm”.
Nearing midnight he said “that’s it bitch, I am going to kill you”, before he went to get a jerry can of petrol and entered his daughters’ room.