A Brisbane financial planner who bashed his top client to death with a hammer was mentally ill at the time but knew right from wrong, a court has heard.

October 18, 2018

A Brisbane financial planner who stole more than $700,000 from his top client knew right from wrong when he bashed him to death with a hammer despite suffering mental illness, his murder trial has been told.

Trung The Ma, 35, is on trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court accused of murdering 63-year-old Huegio Bonham during an argument over the financial planner’s alleged theft from the spiritual guru.

Prosecution psychiatrist Darren Neillie testified on Wednesday that Ma was mentally abnormal when he killed Mr Bonham during the dispute about the missing money but also capable of understanding right from wrong.

Ma has admitted killing his former client and hiding his body in an Indooroopilly storage unit, but denies murdering Mr Bonham and is fighting the charge on mental health grounds.

Dr Neillie said Ma felt weighed down from an early age by the pressure of providing for his extended family, with whom he had escaped from Vietnam by boat as a young boy.

He was also riddled with anxiety over his inability to live up to his father’s expectations, he said.

The former refugee told the psychiatrist Mr Bohnam had demanded access to Ma’s clients and family to promote his spiritual services and threatened to spill the beans if Ma didn’t hand them over.

“He said the idea of his family being exposed to Mr Bonham’s beliefs led to a further escalation in his emotional state …. he recalled feeling enraged … the mention of his family led to him feeling threatened at an emotional level,” Dr Neillie said.

The prosecution alleges Ma murdered his former client of four years at Mr Bonham’s Gold Coast hinterland home, which he had set up as a spiritual retreat because the theft had been discovered.

The trial continues.