Court told NZ student 'psychotic and delusional'

Claims that New Zealand student Blazej Kot was psychotic and delusional when he killed wife Caroline Coffey were examined as his murder trial continued in New York state today.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew McElwee cross-examined a defence psychiatrist who claimed Kot was mentally unwell at the time of the killing.

Former Auckland University student Kot 25, is accused of murdering Dr Coffey on June 2 and setting fire to their Ithaca apartment to conceal the crime.

His defence is that the former Cornell PhD student was suffering from an extreme emotional disturbance, which could lessen the crime from murder to manslaughter.

Kot's mental state worsened with the rejection of his research paper and the anti-malarial chloroquine tablets he took before, during and after he and Coffey traveled to Costa Rica for their May marriage, his lawyer argued.

Kot may have been suffering from Capgras syndrome or Capgras delusion - the notion that Dr Coffey and others he knew had been replaced by strangers.

- NZPA