Jean Eric Gassy

Case record: Jean Eric Gassy

Background

Jean Eric Gassy was a deregistered medical practitioner. He was struck off in 1997 after being diagnosed with a delusional disorder and refusing to comply with conditions placed on his registration. Gassy was a former psychiatrist.

Gassy’s motive related to the person who initiated the deregistration process, after first raising his eligibility to be a psychiatrist. That person was Dr Margaret Tobin, his former boss.

Gassy was later found to possess a “hit list” of doctors involved in his deregistration, as well as a HIV specialist who refused to treat him after the delusional former doctor became convinced he had contracted the virus.

The offence

Jean Eric Gassy was convicted of the murder on 14 October 2002 of Dr. Margaret Tobin, then the head of government mental health services in South Australia.

Dr Tobin was shot four times as she was walking away from the lift that she had taken to the eighth floor of the office in which she worked.

Investigation

Police had to piece together volumes of circumstantial evidence after no one saw the gunman.

Police found in Gassy’s wallet a list of doctors written on the back of a railway ticket. The prosecution argued this was a list of people Gassy blamed for his personal, professional and financial ruin. The top of the ticket had been ripped off, leaving “All that was left was the letter M.”

Arrest

No separate arrest information was provided.

Trial

Gassy pleaded not guilty and represented himself at trial.

A jury found Gassy guilty of Dr Tobin’s murder. Gassy stood hands clasped and briefly looked out at the gallery before averting his gaze to the ground as the guilty verdict was read out to Adelaide Supreme Court.

Gassy’s defence included statements that “being murdered is an occupational hazard for psychiatrists” and that Dr Tobin was killed by someone from the secret underground of lesbianism in Adelaide.

The prosecution argued that Gassy killed Dr Tobin in a meticulously planned execution as an act of vengeance after almost a decade of blaming her for his deregistration as a psychiatrist.

Margaret Tobin’s husband Don Scott said: “it was an immense relief when he realised the jury had rejected Gassy’s version of events.”

Margaret Tobin’s mother Jean said while the verdict gave her family some relief, they could never fully recover from the loss, and said: “Margaret's death will always be a tremendous loss to our family, and we'll continue to miss her terribly.”

Sentencing

Gassy was originally sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

Gassy was later sentenced to life in prison (minimum 30 years) in May 2009 after his retrial and conviction on 6 May 2009.

Appeals

Gassy’s appeal process included two court levels described in the case summary:

1. High Court of Australia: Gassy v. The Queen (2008) HCA 18 (14 May 2008) On 14 May 2008 both Gassy’s conviction and sentence were quashed by the High Court of Australia following an appeal during which Gassy had represented himself. The High Court noted that “the trial judge's directions to a jury deadlocked after a day and a half of deliberations lacked neutrality, causing a substantial miscarriage of justice.”

2. Supreme Court of South Australia: R v Gassy (No 3) (2005) SASC 496 (22 December 2005) A Supreme Court of South Australia appeal event was referenced by citation and date in the case summary, but no further narrative details were provided.

Outcome

After the High Court quashed the conviction and sentence, Gassy’s retrial on the same charge took place in April 2009. He was convicted on the 6th May 2009.

Gassy was later sentenced to life in prison (minimum 30 years) in May 2009.

Aftermath

The Dr Margaret Tobin Awards were established in 2004 to publicly recognise people or organisations that had made an outstanding contribution to mental health in South Australia.

In October 2006, the Margaret Tobin Centre, a 40 bed “state of the art” mental health inpatient centre, was constructed on the grounds of the Flinders Medical Centre. The centre took over management of the existing 15 bed unit specialising in weight and anxiety disorders located in the hospital.

Victim

Dr Margaret Julie Tobin, 50, was the victim of the murder.