Tiwi Islands man guilty of murdering international student, NT Supreme Court jury finds
A Supreme Court jury has found Brendan Kantilla guilty of murdering a Bangladeshi university student in 2023. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
In short:
A jury has found Brendan Kantilla guilty of murdering Bangladeshi student, Isfaqur Rahman, following a week-long trial in the Supreme Court in Darwin.
The jury deliberated for around three hours before reaching their unanimous verdict.
What's next?
Kantilla faces the NT's mandatory penalty of life in prison with a 20-year non-parole period. He will be sentenced later this week.
A jury has found Tiwi Islands man Brendan Kantilla guilty of murdering 23-year-old university student Isfaqur Rahman following a six-day trial in the Northern Territory's Supreme Court in Darwin.
Warning: This story contains content that may be distressing to some readers.
Mr Rahman, an international student from Bangladesh, was asleep in his bed at a share house in the Darwin suburb of Millner on May 3, 2023, when Kantilla struck him in the head with a paving stone and then with a fire extinguisher.
Following around three hours of deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty to murder on Monday.
Members of the NT's Bangladeshi community, including two of Isfaqur Rahman's friends, were in court for the verdict on Monday. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
Bangladeshi community 'relieved' at result
Several members of the NT's Bangladeshi community, including two of Mr Rahman's friends, were seated in the courtroom as the verdict was delivered.
Chowdhury Sadaruddin, who was at Mr Rahman's bedside when his life support was turned off, said he felt relieved at the result.
"Obviously it's a long process, but there's a closing now which is for the family. But [we're] just relieved, our whole community is feeling relieved," he said.
"I hope it never happened, but I hope now the family will have some peace."
President of the Bangladesh Association of the NT, Noorun Salma, said while nothing could bring Mr Rahman back, they were pleased with the result.
"We don't want any more loss in our community and are very happy with the judgement today.," she said.
Noorun Salma says the local Bangladeshi community is pleased with the guilty verdict. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
Jury rejects argument of mental impairment
Kantilla, who was 29 at the time of Mr Rahman's death, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the alternative charge of manslaughter.
Over the course of the trial, Kantilla pursued the partial defence of diminished responsibility, with his legal team arguing he was substantially mentally impaired at the time of the attack.
An NT Supreme Court jury rejected the argument that Brendan Kantilla was substantially mentally impaired at the time of the attack. (Supplied: Facebook)
In convicting Kantilla of murder, the jury rejected the defence's argument that Kantilla was not able to control himself or fully comprehend the seriousness of his actions.
Instead, the jury found Kantilla intended to kill or seriously harm Mr Rahman.
Kantilla ate from fridge as victim lay bleeding
The court heard while Kantilla and Mr Rahman were not known to each other, they had a fleeting interaction just hours before Mr Rahman's death.
Md Isfaqur Rahman had moved to Darwin from Bangladesh for his studies. (Supplied: Bangladeshi Student Association)
The student had returned home with his roommate, Tm Safi Sami, late at night after working as a cleaner when Kantilla asked the pair for a cigarette.
While giving evidence early in the trial, Mr Sami told the court when they said they didn't have one, Kantilla swore at them and they swore back.
Kantilla then returned to Mr Rahman's house on Trower Road, entered through the back door and into Mr Rahman's room where the student was asleep.
Kantilla then struck Mr Rahman with a paver, rendering him unconscious and bleeding.
The jury was shown a recorded police interview following Kantilla's arrest in which he demonstrated how he "slammed" the victim's head with the paver.
Phillip Boulten SC represented Brendan Kantilla throughout the six-day trial. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)
In the interview, Kantilla can be heard describing the strike as a "one, big hit" and saying Mr Rahman "nearly passed away from me".
In his closing address to the jury, crown prosecutor Lloyd Babb SC described Kantilla's actions as "deliberate", "premeditated" and "extremely violent".
"You might remember [Kantilla] indicating in his interview with police that he went through the fridge and ate some food and took his time shopping amongst the possessions at the property," Mr Babb said.
"This was not a rushed, impulsive series of actions but rather a chillingly premeditated slowly, executed and controlled attack."
Lloyd Babb SC said Kantilla's actions on the night of the attack were "chillingly premeditated". (ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Neuropsychologists disagree over Kantilla's mental state
The court heard two days of evidence from two neuropsychologists — Peter Ashkar and Laura Scott — who gave conflicting evidence regarding the extent of Kantilla's cognitive impairment.
Both witnesses interviewed Kantilla while he was prison awaiting trial and conducted psychometric testing to determine Kantilla's mental and cognitive capacity.
Ms Scott told the court it was "more likely than not" Kantilla had a mild intellectual disability while Dr Ashkar said he "emphatically" disagreed.
Md Isfaqur Rahman died at his share house in Millner in May 2023. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Dr Ashkar told the court Kantilla was "functioning at borderline … or at an impaired level in most areas of his intellectual and cognitive function".
Despite this, Dr Ashkar said this did not "preclude — nor reduce in any way — his capacity to distinguish right and wrong, and seriously wrong behaviour",
In the NT, murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 years.
Kantilla will return to the Supreme Court for sentencing later this week.