A MAN exploded with rage and killed his elderly parents with an axe after his mother laughed when his pet cat died, Tasmania's Supreme Court heard today.
Stephen Alexander Harper, of Launceston, pleaded guilty to the murder of Roderick Alexander Harper, 88, and Helene May Harper, 77, on August 30, 2006.
Crown prosecutor John Ransom said Harper killed his parents with a number of blows to the head with the back of an axe on the day his cat Tootie died.
The court heard Harper believed his mother may have poisoned the cat.
"He snapped and killed them and told friends his parents had treated him like dirt," Mr Ransom said.
"He believed his mother had poisoned the cat because she laughed about it."
He had then gone and smashed up his flat before re-entering the house.
He hit his mother with a backhand blow knocking her to the floor.
The court heard Roderick Harper had entered the room with an axe and called Harper a "f*****g mongrel".
Harper had grabbed the axe and hit his father more than 10 times and hit Mrs Harper with seven blows.
He then travelled to a friend's place and confessed. Police were then called.
The couple's bodies, with massive head injuries, were found side by side in their Abbott St home.
Defence counsel Evan Hughes told Justice Alan Blow that Harper was highly educated with numerous qualifications in psychology.
"It is tempting to think this case is about the death of a cat," he said.
"But it wasn't. It was an explosion of rage which welled up from unresolved issues that had bubbled and simmered under the surface from childhood experiences.
"The triggering event was his mother's reaction to his hurt and grief at the loss of his cat."
Justice Blow has called for a psychiatric report and remanded him in custody for sentence on August 31.
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