Police testify on previous run-ins with murder suspect claiming insanity

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Lawyers Friday continued presenting their insanity defense in the trial of a Burlington man accused of killing his wife with a cleaver in 2017.

On the fifth day of the trial for Aita Gurung, two Burlington police officers who were on the scene testified about previous run-ins with Gurung. According to testimony, five days before the murder, police were called to the North End Variety Store after Gurung walked in and told the clerk to call the police. In a police bodycam video, Gurung has his hands up and can be heard telling officers that he’s a criminal.

“He was calm, he was cooperative. I mean, I wouldn’t say he was uncooperative because of the language barrier. He was just acting oddly,” recalled Burlington Police Lt. Michael Henry. He says Gurung spoke in a low tone and would not look at officers. While it’s not completely clear, police say Gurung told them there was a domestic issue.

Lt. Henry says Gurung told them nobody was injured. Other officers were then dispatched to his Hyde Street apartment for a welfare check.

At the apartment, Lt. James Trieb spoke with Gurung’s mother-in-law with the help of a translator over the phone to figure out what had happened. “I asked her if he had hurt anyone at the house. The answer was no. She disclosed that he had some mental health issues, that he hadn’t been taking his medication, that he had been throwing things around the house and talking loudly,” Lt. Trieb testified.

Officers say that they went and spoke with Gurung’s wife at work and that he was taken to the crisis unit at UVM Medical Center where he was seen by psychiatrist Dr. William Horn.

Horn told the jury that Gurung was his patient in 2015 following two suicide attempts, and again after the encounter with police.

When he arrived at the hospital, Horn says Gurung showed symptoms including a depressed mood, and hearing voices in his head.

“These voices are saying do this or do that, or I’ll kill you. Hearing multiple voices at the same time is a classic symptom of schizophrenia, so I really wanted to highlight that - like this guy is having a very classic symptom of psychosis,” he said.

During the state’s cross-examination, prosecutor Rose Kennedy questioned Horn’s 383-page report, pointing out that in the several psychotic instances recorded over the years, Gurung’s voices never told him to hurt anyone or himself. “There’s no indication from 2015 through 2017 --October 12 of 2017 -- the voices are telling him to strangle Yogeswari Khadka -- right? There’s no indication same time frame -- 2015 -- when you first met him then, up to October 12, 2017, to hurt Thulsa Rimal, right?”

The defense will continue its case on Monday. They are expected to call in several more doctors to testify.

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