Life detention over hammer killing

Court sketch of Matthew Robert Steele

A man who bludgeoned a grandfather to death in Adelaide will spend the rest of his life in detention.

Umberto Crisante, 63, was killed with a hammer in the garden of his house at Clearview in June 2006.

Matthew Robert Steele, 30, pleaded not guilty to murder because of mental incompetence.

The court heard Mr Crisante's wife, Maria, was with their four-year-old granddaughter when she found her bashed husband, who later died in hospital.

In a victim impact statement read by the prosecutor, Mrs Crisante said she now feared being alone.

She had flashbacks of finding her husband lying on the ground covered in blood and said she could no longer sleep.

Defence lawyer Paul Charman told the court Steele's parents had tried to get help for their son before the attack.

But they did not dispute Justice Thomas Gray's order that Steele spend the rest of his life in a mental health facility.

Beating death offender not guilty

Matthew Robert Steele has been found not guilty due to mental incompetence.

A 30-year-old man who admitted beating another man to death with a hammer in 2006 has been found not guilty because of mental incompetence.

Matthew Robert Steele from Clearview in Adelaide's northern suburbs today admitted to bludgeoning 63-year-old Umberto Crisante to death in the backyard of the victim's house.

Steele is being kept at the mental health facility James Nash House until a judge imposes a mandatory period of life in detention.

A report from the victim's family will be presented at the next hearing in July.