"The defendant accused his mother of paying a clairvoyant"
Gurkiran Bassan, aged 23, of Great Barr, Birmingham, was jailed for 20 years for trying to kill his mother because he thought she had put a black magic curse on him.
Bassan had been estranged from his mother since the age of 15.
He re-established contact with her on Mother’s Day 2022.
They remained in touch and things seemed to be going well before she became concerned at comments Bassan was making about his late father, as well as a “separate universe”.
Speaking about an incident in April 2022, prosecutor Deborah Gould said:
“The defendant accused his mother of paying a clairvoyant to put black magic and a death wish on him, putting jadoo on him.
“Her response was to advise her son to stop using drugs.”
Bassan, who had been a cannabis user since the age of 16, accused his mother of “mental bullying” before warning “karma is going to get you”.
Bassan was hospitalised on May 2 and said he was “going to drag everyone down with me”.
He spoke about his father as if he was still alive, prompting a mental health assessment. It was concluded that there was no evidence of psychosis or paranoia.
After being discharged, Bassan stayed at his mother’s home in Handsworth Wood on May 8.
The next morning, Bassan told his mother his emotions had “died off”. He also asked if there was any CCTV as well as requested the house alarm be turned off.
The victim messaged a neighbour asking them to come round.
When they knocked on the door, she made a telephone gesture but the neighbour did not realise that she wanted the police to be called.
Shortly afterwards, Bassan launched a “shocking and brutal” attack.
Ms Gould explained: “She offered to make her son breakfast.
“The defendant replied, ‘I was born different, you know I was born different. I was born to be evil’. She called 999 and put the phone in her pocket.
“The defendant then attacked his mother. He grabbed her by the neck and applied pressure. She was struggling to breathe and she fell to the floor.
“The defendant told her, ‘Only one of us is leaving, it’s either me or you’. She heard her cutlery drawer open. She was stabbed repeatedly by the defendant.
“He stopped for what she thought was about 10 minutes.
“She pretended to be dead but the defendant noticed her breathing, actually asking, ‘Are you still breathing?’
“He then grabbed a wine bottle and struck his mother to the head.”
After stabbing his mother up to 15 times, Bassan called emergency services, claiming she had tried to attack him first.
He eventually admitted that his actions were unprovoked.
The victim suffered life-threatening injuries, including stab wounds to her back and arms, and would have died if not for the intervention of doctors.
Psychiatric experts disputed Bassan’s mental state.
One believed he suffered an acute transient psychotic disorder at the time of the attack.
On the other hand, another argued there was little evidence of psychosis because he was mentally capable of “manipulating the situation to his advantage”.
Bassan was jailed for 20 years after he admitted attempted murder.
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