The court was told Jalloh, who had been released from prison 11 weeks earlier, was living at a 'drug house' and smoking up to 10 bongs a day around the time of the alleged murder.
Prosecutors allege Jalloh attacked Kizenga as she walked with her cousin on Walderton Avenue about 8pm on March 16, 2024. The cousin told the court she saw Jalloh carrying a 19-centimetre filleting knife and ran towards a neighbour's house, thinking Kizenga was behind her. She stopped when she heard her cousin call out and turned to allegedly see Jalloh on top of Kizenga making 'repeated punching motions' towards her neck.
The court heard Jalloh stabbed Kizenga an estimated 19 times, cutting her face, neck, head, shoulders, right arm and leg. Kizenga tried to free herself while her cousin threw objects at Jalloh, who only stopped when she hurled her purse at him. He kicked Kizenga twice in the stomach before fleeing.
A group of locals chased Jalloh, some with baseball bats and one with a metal pole, and cornered him about 400 metres from where Kizenga was receiving first aid. He yelled that he 'hadn't done anything' and tried to run, but a bystander caught his T-shirt. 'One witness described Mr Jalloh as appearing to be affected by a substance, observing that his eyes were bloodshot and "bulging out of [his] head", and that he appeared excited,' prosecutors alleged.
Police arrested him. In an interview, Jalloh said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had not received treatment since leaving prison. He told detectives he had no knowledge of the murder and believed he had been assaulted by a group of men who mistook him for the offender.
The court heard Jalloh later told police: 'I tried to hurt myself, I wanted to cut my throat but I didn't have the courage to do that. I remember the voices saying I should hurt myself and hurt others.' He also claimed 'God's voice said he was a murderer and that's why the girls loved him'.
He denied drug use, but trace amounts of THC were found in his system. A search of a property he was staying at found used syringes and a cannabis smoking implement.
Psychiatrist Dr Elizabeth Tate told the court she believed Jalloh was 'malingering' his experience of psychosis. 'I do believe Mr Jalloh had experienced psychotic symptoms during his life … but he had at times exaggerated or reported symptoms that weren't genuine,' she said. Tate said Jalloh began reporting psychotic symptoms he had not previously reported after he was found fit to stand trial.
Defence lawyer Simon Freitag said Jalloh had a recorded history of hearing voices dating back to 2016 and 2017, including believing birds, the newspaper and television programs were talking to him. Tate accepted Jalloh had likely experienced psychosis in the past but suspected he exaggerated symptoms after understanding the depth of his actions.
The trial continues.