A schizophrenic man who fatally stabbed a stranger outside a Melbourne train station should not spend less time in jail because of his mental illness, a lawyer argues.
Cody Frost, 37, killed 24-year-old Marcus Rowley on August 5, 2017 at West Footscray by stabbing him once in the back with a large chef's knife before leaving him on the side of the road.
Frost claimed he acted in self defence and that Mr Rowley had been following him and a female friend after all three alighted a train at Tottenham station.
Mr Rowley approached the pair, repeatedly asking for a cigarette until Frost agreed but the killer claimed his victim then became aggressive.
In April, a jury found Frost not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.
In a pre-sentence plea hearing on Monday, crown prosecutor Mark Gibson QC said Frost stabbed Mr Rowley as he was annoyed and angry at his presence.
He argued Frost's moral culpability was not reduced as although the killer had paranoid schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication four days prior, there was no evidence his psychosis had relapsed.
Mr Gibson added it was unclear if illicit drugs Frost took the previous week had contributed to the attack.
Frost's lawyer Ashley Halphen argued Mr Rowley had been aggressive and come toward a frightened Frost with his arm raised and a bottle in hand.
"Mr Frost believed it was necessary to do what he did and the conduct, we submit, was provoked," he said during Monday's pre-sentence plea hearing.
"Mr Rowley must have done more than just stand there."
He added the attack was spontaneous, "truly out of the blue" and not pre-meditated.
Frost handed himself in to police, bringing the bloodied knife and never denied stabbing Mr Rowley, Mr Halphen added.
Mr Gibson said the Crown did not accept Mr Rowley had a raised arm and a bottle in his hand before he was stabbed.
"If (Frost) was responding to something Mr Rowley was doing, it must have been a perceived threat," he said.
"There's no evidence about Mr Rowley being aggressive to Mr Frost directly before his death."
Justice James Elliott will sentence Frost at a later date.
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Australian Associated Press
