An Indian man, who stabbed Finnish mystic Lor Bock to death while working as his personal assistant, has been released from jail after just 10 months due to an apparent recovery from psychotic delusions.
The 29 year-old burst into tears as he was discharged by Helsinki District Court last week. A mental evaluation was heard in court, indicating that he did not understand his actions at the time of the murder, but that he now needs no more treatment.
The man, who looked after Bock following his paralysis from a previous stabbing in 1999, said he heard voices and thought his employer was the devil. He was given medication and other treatment during his time in jail and is now fully recovered, according to his doctor.
“I have understood that he will return to India now. He has been sad the whole time, and has regretted his action. He does not want to downplay what he did at all,” said the man’s defence lawyer Olli Etelamaki.
Doctors claimed the killer’s mind had been disturbed by unusual living conditions and an extreme working environment at Bock’s Helsinki apartment. They claimed the 29 year-old suffered from “acute polymorphous psychotic disturbance”, and did not understand the implications of his actions.
Such cases, where someone found guilty of a homicide and released so early, are rare, but there have been examples in Finland where women have been ruled to have killed their children under postpartum psychosis and then recovered before the psychiatric evaluation.