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Sensitive Topic Melbourne Couple Murdered

Vanilla

Your friendly neighbourhood hedgehog
V.I.P Member
Melbourne couple murdered in 'thrill kill', attacker Thomas Hemming wanted to know what killing was like, court hears.

The man who randomly stabbed a Melbourne couple to death wanted to know what it was like to kill someone and had fantasies about it, a court has heard.

Thomas Hemming pleaded guilty to stabbing Robert and Cheryl Adamson to death in their home in Murrumbeena in February, in what prosecutors described as a "thrill kill".

At today's plea hearing, the court heard Hemming "wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone"; a fantasy he had for several months leading up to the killings.

The court heard he chose the Adamsons on a whim because he knew an elderly couple lived at the home, and he thought it was better to kill older people than young victims.

Hemming has admitted knocking on the couple's door at 6:00am on February 19 after a night of drinking and asking them if he could use their telephone.

When Mr and Mrs Adamson let him in, Hemming set upon them with a knife he had ordered off the internet.

The knife was found at the scene and Hemming was later found with blood on his clothes.

A terrifying sociopath with no feeling: Justice King
Hemming's lawyer Damian Sheales, and his treating prison psychiatrist, told the court their client had shown no empathy for his actions, or provided any detail about why he had carried out the killings.

They also acknowledged there was no evidence he would not act similarly again in the event he was released.

"It's the most fathomless case I've come across in all circumstances," Mr Sheales said.

"As you can imagine, his own family are shattered."

Justice Betty King described Hemming as "terrifying to us, terrifying to the community".

"What is going on?" she said.

"He's a sociopath ... there's no feeling, no empathy, no care ... it's truly terrifying.

"There's nothing to indicate in any way that he's not going to remain a danger."

Hemming has Asperger's syndrome, which was discussed as a possible cause for the attack, but his psychiatrist told the court people with Asperger's were more likely to be vulnerable victims in the community than perpetrators.

Hemming showed no emotion as details of the case were read out.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

Source: Melbourne couple murdered in 'thrill kill', attacker Thomas Hemming wanted to know what killing was like, court hears - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
 
Oh goodness... My sympathies to the families involved. =(

One of my cousin's cousins was killed in the same way. "I think it'd be fun to shoot a person instead of cardboard targets." 15 years old. Shot dead and buried in the woods in a shallow grave just a few miles from my home at the time. First murder in the area in probably a hundred years. Last I heard he's still locked up and I hope he's never let out again.
 
Oh goodness... My sympathies to the families involved. =(

One of my cousin's cousins was killed in the same way. "I think it'd be fun to shoot a person instead of cardboard targets." 15 years old. Shot dead and buried in the woods in a shallow grave just a few miles from my home at the time. First murder in the area in probably a hundred years. Last I heard he's still locked up and I hope he's never let out again.
I'm sorry about your cousin's cousin.
 
Thanks for posting this. Do we know if anyone (such as family members or a doctor) was aware of these fantasies leading up to the murder?
 
I am hopeful, it looks like him being an Aspie might be played down on this one. The thing that is evident is that this is a proper tragedy as it was for absolutely no real reason at all, none of the usual motives can be pointed to to give it some kind of very slim margin of justification.
The scariest thing I think, is that this will become more prevalent as kids who are growing up desensitised from the content in music, games & television wonder what it is like to do it all in real life, rape, rob, murder, joyride, destroy... blow stuff up!
Mayhap we should send him to the naughty corner to think about what he did, his defence will be that at least he was nice enough to choose the elderly to snuff out of existence... This time!!!
 
Thanks for posting this. Do we know if anyone (such as family members or a doctor) was aware of these fantasies leading up to the murder?
Not too sure. I saw the story on the news today, but little was mentioned.
 
I am hopeful, it looks like him being an Aspie might be played down on this one. The thing that is evident is that this is a proper tragedy as it was for absolutely no real reason at all, none of the usual motives can be pointed to to give it some kind of very slim margin of justification.
The scariest thing I think, is that this will become more prevalent as kids who are growing up desensitised from the content in music, games & television wonder what it is like to do it all in real life, rape, rob, murder, joyride, destroy... blow stuff up!
Mayhap we should send him to the naughty corner to think about what he did, his defence will be that at least he was nice enough to choose the elderly to snuff out of existence... This time!!!
This is actually the second news I've seen recently on an individual wanting to kill, out of sheer curiosity (this guy just happened to be an Aspie). There seems to be a general interest in psychopaths lately, I've noticed, and this is showing in more areas than the news. I don't know whether there are those, who think that being a sociopath is cool, or whether this current trend is encouraging those types to be more adventurous.
 
I don't know whether there are those, who think that being a sociopath is cool, or whether this current trend is encouraging those types to be more adventurous.
I don't think there's really any trend of encouragement going on. "People who think being a sociopath is cool" are either dealing with some kind of mental illness or are at risk of traveling the path to sociopathy themselves (though I should add that sociopathy is itself considered a mental illness).
 
I certainly hope the Asperger's part of it is played down. People with AS can have all kinds of co-morbid conditions, and one of those might be antisocial personality disorder (APD) with manifestations of sociopathic/psychopathic behavior. This person is quite obviously ill, but I don't think that matters in a case such as this. He knows what he did was wrong, so he should be locked up permanently for the sake of society.

Personal Opinion: People like this are the closest things we have to actual monsters, because they have no regard for humanity.
 
I don't know whether there are those, who think that being a sociopath is cool, or whether this current trend is encouraging those types to be more adventurous.
I don't think there's really any trend of encouragement going on. "People who think being a sociopath is cool" are either dealing with some kind of mental illness or are at risk of traveling the path to sociopathy themselves (though I should add that sociopathy is itself considered a mental illness).
People aren't trying to encourage it...But the fame and publicity that's attached to such things can itself be encouragement to some persons.
I don't know that every single person who does such things is a sociopath.
 
People aren't trying to encourage it...But the fame and publicity that's attached to such things can itself be encouragement to some persons.
I don't know that every single person who does such things is a sociopath.
Aye, that's what I think too. It's likely not true in all cases, but I think some people get it into their heads they can get their 15 seconds of fame if they do something more unnerving than the last whacko. A lot of "normal" kids I knew growing up would do some really disturbing things to animals, it's not hard for me to think that depravity is not always an indication of a mental condition so much as some people are just plain mean.
 
People aren't trying to encourage it...But the fame and publicity that's attached to such things can itself be encouragement to some persons.
I don't know that every single person who does such things is a sociopath.
Of course not. But there's probably something else going on.
 
Of course not. But there's probably something else going on.
Of course. The fact of someone not being a sociopath, while not precluding violence, doesn't cause violence, and while fame and publicity might be motivation to some people, they wouldn't cause most people to do such things.
Most people, while they can be foolish and a little bit selfish, don't want to do chillingly evil things.
 
Aye, that's what I think too. It's likely not true in all cases, but I think some people get it into their heads they can get their 15 seconds of fame if they do something more unnerving than the last whacko. A lot of "normal" kids I knew growing up would do some really disturbing things to animals, it's not hard for me to think that depravity is not always an indication of a mental condition so much as some people are just plain mean.
I'm reading a book by a forensic psychiatrist, and he says that many of the criminals he interviewed tried, in an attempt to gain people's sympathy and avert heavy punishment, to pretend to have a mental condition that they did not really have.
 
My understanding is that movies used to try and scare people by things like aliens and monsters, but somewhere along the way the movie producers realised that people, while scared, would walk away knowing it would (in all probability) never actually happen. What was scarier were the scenarios that could actually happen, so the theme of movies have moved more to that. The psychological thrillers leave people scared of dark corners and make them question their closest friends... Until the fear of the movie has warn off.

I personally think introducing these themes to our kids has gone a long way toward moving our society in the direction Gomendosi was originally suggesting. Desensitising our kids and implanting questions like "What would it feel like to..." Is a scary thing for me to ponder.
 
I don't think there's really any trend of encouragement going on. "People who think being a sociopath is cool" are either dealing with some kind of mental illness or are at risk of traveling the path to sociopathy themselves (though I should add that sociopathy is itself considered a mental illness).
Oh, not so much any trend encouraging being a sociopath, but I've noticed a heightened interest in the last few years. It's almost like they're the new vampires, or something, which is disturbing. The last boy who killed, before this one, compared himself to the TV serial killer Dexter, and thought it was funny. I've met a few people who have admitted an interest; though only for interest's sake. Was just wondering if it was a partial cause.
 
Oh, there have always been people who are a little too fascinated with serial killers (idolizing them, I mean). Ever hear of "murderabilia"?

I wouldn't call it a cause of violent behavior, but rather a symptom or possible predictor of it.
 
Oh, not so much any trend encouraging being a sociopath, but I've noticed a heightened interest in the last few years. It's almost like they're the new vampires, or something, which is disturbing. The last boy who killed, before this one, compared himself to the TV serial killer Dexter, and thought it was funny. I've met a few people who have admitted an interest; though only for interest's sake. Was just wondering if it was a partial cause.
I think that there may be a few rare individuals who could be affected in a negative and dangerous way by this public fascination. Most people would of course not be tempted to do such things. But for those very very few individuals who already, for whatever reason, have it in them to do such things, this kind of public fascination could be one teeny tiny but real push further in that direction.
 
This was on the news last night here, and the idea of a link with Aspergers was soundly dismissed by the report on the case.
 
Oh, there have always been people who are a little too fascinated with serial killers (idolizing them, I mean). Ever hear of "murderabilia"?

I wouldn't call it a cause of violent behavior, but rather a symptom or possible predictor of it.
No, I hadnt heard of that before. How interesting. Thanks for that.

I think that there may be a few rare individuals who could be affected in a negative and dangerous way by this public fascination. Most people would of course not be tempted to do such things. But for those very very few individuals who already, for whatever reason, have it in them to do such things, this kind of public fascination could be one teeny tiny but real push further in that direction.

Oh yes, definitely. It is only a small percent; those 1-2 individuals. It can't be helped, of course, but it's interesting to wonder.
 

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