Designer dies for curtain comment

I told the doctor that I wanted to kill someone Jose Da Silva

A South African man has been found guilty of killing an interior designer after she criticised his curtains.

"She [Beatrice Harrowyn, 47] did not make any nice comments about my place, so I went to my garage and fetched an axe," said Jose Da Silva, 37.

He said that "voices" had told him to become a serial killer but the judge found him guilty of murder.

He also criticised the police for taking six weeks to arrest him, saying he had left clues for them to follow.

"It should have taken two days. It was their job to arrest me. I pay taxes and [thus] their salary."

'Playing a game'

Several other female interior designers and estate agents said that Da Silva had tried to lure them to his house.

Harrowyn's near naked body was kept in a bath for two or three days before being dumped by the side of a road.

There was no evidence that she has been sexually abused.

Da Silva said he was "relieved" to have been arrested because "I am no longer a danger to society."

He said that he had told his psychiatrist that he wanted to kill someone six months before the murder.

A former colleague testified that Da Silva had changed after going into a coma following a heart bypass operation.

He started to live a "lavish" lifestyle way beyond his means.

Judge Johan Els said that he did not believe Da Silva's claims to have been "playing a game" and copying film scenes.

"I am convinced that he lured people to his place so that he could overpower and rob them," he said.

He is due to be sentenced on Friday.