Gargasoulas has been charged with murdering six pedestrians and injuring dozens more in January 2017

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man accused of mowing down pedestrians in Melbourne’s Bourke Street has been found fit to stand trial.

James Gargasoulas, 27, is charged with murdering six pedestrians and injuring dozens more in January 2017.

After hearing a week of evidence about his treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia, a supreme court jury on Monday determined in less than five hours that he was fit to stand trial.

The court was told Gargasoulas had “bizarre delusions” about being the Messiah and believed he would become king before the end of a trial.

He told experts that if he was convicted he would spend less than two years behind bars because people would either march for his release or a comet would hit earth and “burn us all” in mid-2020.

He said he had lived seven times before and the comet had hit at that time in his last life.

Gargasoulas also told doctors he was “very keen” to be found fit to stand trial because he wanted people to hear and believe his warnings.

Experts disagreed on whether he was fit to stand trial.

Psychiatrist Andrew Carroll did not believe he was rationally capable of entering a plea.

He faces six murder charges and 28 counts of reckless conduct endangering life.

Psychologist Michael Daffern said while he believed Gargasoulas was unwell he had demonstrated a capacity for rational decision making.

The trial is set to begin next Wednesday.

