Months earlier, according to the Crown case, Fitzpatrick messaged his mother: “Dad I want to put down. Lift the gun to his head and scream to pull the trigger. I HATE HIM”, adding, “every dog has its day. It’s his time to die alone. Telling everyone he’s got cancer and his son is ripping him off”.
“I’ll kill him to save everyone else,” Fitzpatrick allegedly said.
In July 2023, prosecutors allege he sent a series of text to his mother, including telling her that he would “skin you alive and eat you” if she did not follow a request.
On the day of her estranged husband’s death, Tracey Fitzpatrick messaged her son: “Ken needs every ounce of his energy to fight this cancer which he hasn’t even started treatment nor had an operation for.”
At 3.53pm that day, Fitzpatrick messaged his mother: “I’m sending the devil. To strangel [sic] you tonight” and “I HATE YOU MOTHER”.
At 3.56pm, Kenneth Fitzpatrick called triple zero and told the operator: “My son is out of control.”
“He’s been on drugs. I can’t have him here … he’s not hurting anyone. I’ve got cancer,” he said. “I don’t really need this … I don’t think he would be dangerous, but he is not in control.” He said his son had “mental health issues because of drugs” and was told a police car would be sent around.
The Berowra Heights home where Kenneth Fitzpatrick died in September 2023.Credit: Nick Moir
It’s alleged neighbours then witnessed the two men wrestling outside the house, saw blood on the older man’s face, and a struggle involving keys and a ute. The court heard one woman said she saw the accused with his father in the doorway, and that he yelled, “He’s dead” and told her they had fought before he “just dropped”.
Prosecutors argue expert findings are consistent with the cause of death being a combination of intracranial haemorrhage in the context of blunt force trauma and underlying heart disease.
The Crown case is that “any cardiac arrhythmia suffered by the deceased was brought about by the physical exertion associated with the violent struggle”, and the accused’s actions “were the operating and substantial cause of the deceased’s death”.
Fitzpatrick’s charge was previously downgraded from murder.
Public defender Tom Quilter, in written submissions, said it was accepted the evidence that Fitzpatrick was “involved in some kind of altercation with his father” was reasonably strong, but the evidence about its precise nature was limited.
“The medical evidence is complex and requires careful exploration by experts on both sides,” Quilter said. “The causation pathways are not straightforward.”
In an affidavit, dated May 2024, Tracey Fitzpatrick said she supported her son’s release. She offered a unit for him to live and said she could visit and take him to Alcohol and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
“As a result of the positive changes I have seen in him since his arrest, our relationship has improved significantly,” she wrote. “I believe Jaiken is 100 per cent committed to sobriety and wants to resolve the criminal charge against him.”
Fitzpatrick was granted bail by Justice Michael Walton on conditions including daily reporting to police, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and a $2000 security offered by his mother.
He faced Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, when his lawyer Tania Johnson said there were outstanding forensic reports regarding cause of death. The matter was adjourned to October.
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