Balga locals chased down accused murderer with baseball bats, court told

Warning: This story contains graphic content.

A Perth man accused of randomly stabbing a woman to death on a Balga street had been living in “a drug house” and could have exaggerated his schizophrenia as a way to avoid accountability, a court has heard.

Clarence Jalloh is on trial in Western Australia’s Supreme Court, charged over the alleged murder of Mauwa “Melanie” Kizenga in Balga in March 2024.

The court heard Jalloh was fresh out of prison, smoking up to 10 bongs a day and living at a “drug house” in Balga around the time of the alleged murder.

Prosecutors alleged he simply spotted Kizenga walking in the opposite direction on Walderton Avenue about 8pm on March 16, 2024, when he attacked her.

Kizenga’s cousin, who she was walking with at the time of the alleged murder, said she saw Jalloh walking in the opposite direction and vaguely recognised him.

She then noticed he was carrying a 19-centimetre filleting knife and became concerned he was going to rob the pair, causing her to run toward’s a neighbour’s house.

The court heard she thought Kizenga was behind her, but stopped when she heard her cousin call out.

She turned and allegedly saw Jalloh had knocked her to the ground and was on top of her, making “repeated punching motions” towards Kizenga’s neck.

The court heard Jalloh repeatedly stabbed and slashed at Kizenga with the knife, cutting her on her face, on the side and back of her neck and head, on top of both her shoulders and her right arm and leg. It was estimated he stabbed her 19 times.

Kizenga tried to free herself during the attack while her cousin threw things at Jalloh to make him stop, which he only did when she hurled her purse at him. He kicked Kizenga twice in the stomach before running away.

Kizenga’s cousin and bystanders applied first aid, but her spine was exposed due to the deep cut on her neck.

The court heard a group of Balga locals chased Jalloh – some with baseball bats and one with a metal pole – and cornered him at the end of a driveway about 400 metres from where Kizenga was receiving first aid.

He yelled at those chasing him he “hadn’t done anything” and tried to run, and one bystander caught his T-shirt as he ran.

“One witness described Mr Jalloh as appearing to be affected by a substance, observing that his eyes were bloodshot and ‘bulging out of [his] head’, and that he appeared excited,” prosecutors alleged.

Police eventually caught up with him and he was arrested.

During a police interview, Jalloh said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he had not received treatment since he was released from prison just 11 weeks prior. He said he had no knowledge of the murder, and instead told detectives he had been assaulted by a group of men who had cornered him and accused him of stabbing a girl.

“He maintained that those men had mistaken him for the offender,” prosecutors said.

The then 30-year-old later told police: “I tried to hurt myself, I wanted to cut my throat but I didn’t have the courage to do that. I remember the voices saying I should hurt myself and hurt others.”

“God’s voice said he was a murderer and that’s why the girls loved him … he said I should be a murderer so the girls would love me too.”

He denied he used drugs, but trace amounts of THC were found in his system and a search of a property he was staying at found used syringes and a cannabis smoking implement.

The court heard while Jalloh had a significant history of mental illness, at least two psychiatrists found he had a “greater understanding” of his offending than he admitted.

Psychiatrist Dr Elizabeth Tate told the court on Wednesday it was her view Jalloh was “malingering” his experience of psychosis.

“I do believe Mr Jalloh had experienced psychotic symptoms during his life … but he had at times exaggerated or reported symptoms that weren’t genuine,” she said.

“Mr Jalloh doesn’t commence any malingering until after he’s told he’s fit to stand trial – and then he changes tactics and recalls the incident, recalls voices.

“After he was found fit he then changed course and began to report psychotic symptoms which he hadn’t previously reported.”

However, defence lawyer Simon Freitag said Jalloh had a recorded history of experiencing voices going as far back as 2016 and 2017, including a belief birds, the newspaper and television programs were talking to him.

Tate said she accepted he had likely experienced psychosis in the past, but it was her “suspicion” he was exaggerating his symptoms after he understood the depth of his actions.

She said it was her belief he was likely intoxicated in the lead up to the offence, which impacted his behaviour more strongly than any symptoms of psychosis.

However, Freitag argued the use of drugs – particularly cannabis – could have exacerbated Jalloh’s schizophrenia. The trial continues.

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