A schizophrenic Victorian man who believed he'd been raped by the mob boss from the TV series The Sopranos has been jailed for seven years for stabbing his friend to death.
- Jailed over stabbing death
- 'Ferocious, frenzied attack'
- Indefinite psychiatric care
Callum Zane Smith, 21, had pleaded guilty to the charge of defensive homicide for stabbing Christopher Leone 46 times outside the victim's Warrnambool flat, in the state's south-west, on June 14, 2006.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Curtain said Smith suffered from schizophrenia at the time of the killing and was mentally ill. She said he would need psychiatric care indefinitely.
With Mr Leone's sister and brothers in the court, and his parents watching via video-link from Warrnambool, Justice Curtain said Mr Leone had died during a ferocious and frenzied attack.
She said Smith, of Warrnambool, had been suffering from irrational behaviour in the lead up to the killing.
He believed he had been raped by the TV mob boss character Tony Soprano and that he'd been molested by a family friend many years ago.
He had also once stolen a car to drive to Canberra to speak to the prime minister.
Justice Curtain said she took into account Smith's guilty plea, his remorse, his growing insight about the impact of his crime, and that under supervision his mental health was improving.
She also said she was sentencing him as a youthful offender because he was 19 at the time of the killing, and there was a likelihood of successful rehabilitation.
The judge said Smith would have to serve four-and-a-half years before being eligible for parole, taking into account that he had already spent 850 days in detention.
AAP