UPDATE: Man who killed mother with machete not guilty by reason of insanity

A Laurel man accused of brutally murdering his mother with a machete was found not guilty by reason of insanity after both the state and defense said their expert doctors came the the conclusion that he was not sane at the time of the murder.

A Sussex County judge ruling after a roughly two hour bench trial, that Dukinson Appolon be committed to the Delaware Pyschiatric Center, where he had already been staying after his arrest in January 2016.

The state called two witnesses, the arresting officer and the detective who handled the case.

During the trial the state showed video of Appolon's police interview, where he confessed to killing his mom but also revealed his history of depression.

According to Appolon he began suffering from severe bouts with depression almost a year before the murder. Eventually, he said he began hearing voices in his head and seeing people and things that weren't actually there.

On January 6, 2016 his mother gathered a group from church there at the home  to pray for Appolon, as the defense described it almost an exorcism like prayer service.

Later that night though after the group left, Appolon said in the interview that  the voices began telling him to rape his mother. When he told them he couldn't do that,  they told him to kill her. 

Appolon took a machete to his mother's neck while she lied in bed,  the voices allegedly telling him to decapitate her. 

Soon after the act Appolon said walked around the house before eventually walking out the front door into the night.  

Delaware State Police found Appolon the next morning, after getting reports of suspicious man walking in the road. The trooper that made contact with him said Appolon looked out of it and looked dirty, covered in blood and dirt.

The trooper was able to identify Appolon, but when he took him back to his patrol car Appolon tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen. The trooper tasered him to keep him from harming himself.

Later that day, his mothers body was discovered by family members and Appolon was charged with murder.

Not long after, Appolon waived his right to an attorney and admitted everything to detectives.  

Both the defense and state said their doctors came to the same conclusion that at the time of the murder. Appolon was unable to understand what he was doing  and in fact couldn't refrain from committing the murder.

The defense called no witnesses and did not cross-examine for any of the state's witnesses.

During the defense's closing arguments the attorney said this was a case where the family knew something was wrong, but didn't know how to deal with it other than with prayer.