Authorities in Auckland have suggested that a man convicted of killing an 89-year-old may have been reenacting a scene from a Japanese anime television show. In 2017, Gabriel Hikari Yad-Elohim murdered Michael Mulholland in his apartment's stairs.
The 36-year-old has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was insane when he killed Mulholland, according to his attorneys. For the heinous crime, he is currently receiving a life sentence in jail.
In a few of minutes, Yad-Elohim kicked and stomped on the victim's head ninety times. Soon after, Mulholland passed away from his serious injuries. Using a clip from the Japanese cartoon series Bleach, which features Ichigo Kurosaki as a Grim Reaper who protects people from evil spirits and leads souls to the hereafter, the murderer has now appealed to the Supreme Court.
Anime monologue
After observing striking parallels between the attack and the anime, a forensic psychiatrist asserted that the murderer had been posing as the character.
Unbelievably, Yad-Elohim delivered a monologue in Japanese that was identical to one in the performance. The court said that he thought he was an anime character. "The argument is that the video and the transcript together justify the inference that Mr Yad-Elohim was in the grip of a delusion when he attacked Mr Mulholland," the court said.
At the time of the incident, Yad-Elohim reportedly believed he was an anime character and reported seeing spirits and hearing voices.
had never before encountered his victim
To purchase narcotics on the day of the murder, the murderer accompanied a prostitute to the victim's apartment complex. After telling him to wait below, the woman took his money and ran away.
Then, furious, Yad-Elohim killed Mulholland in a vicious attack at his flat, kicking and stomping on him for around seven minutes. Before that day, he had never met Mulholland.
Just prior to the murder, Yad-Elohim was discharged from the acute mental health ward of the Auckland District Health Board.
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