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Man Who Chopped Off His Mother's Head And Posed On Facebook In Court

Man Who Chopped Off His Mother's Head And Posed On Facebook In Court

It's a distressing case.

James Dawson

James Dawson

The defence lawyer of a Bronx man who dismembered his mother with a power saw and then took a selfie with her severed head has told a court he was mentally ill at the time of the act and didn't know right from wrong.

Bahsid McLean, 26, is standing trial charged with murdering his mother, Tanya Byrd, 52, at their Morrisania apartment on 26 February 2013.

McLean allegedly stabbed the 52-year-old after she told him he was a bad father.

McLean posed on Facebook with the head following the killing. Credit: Facebook

After McLean killed his mother he then went to a hardware store and bought a power saw to carve up her body before calling the police to report his dead mum as 'missing', police said.

His defence team are arguing that jurors should acquit McLean by reason of mental defect or disease, claiming he has had voices in his head since he was a child.

"Does this look like someone who knows what he is doing is wrong?" his attorney Lynn Calvacca said - holding up a photo of a smirking Bahsid McLean posing with his mother's disembodied head - during an opening statement at McLean's trial in Bronx Supreme Court.

His 52-year old mother worked as a health aid before her death. Credit: Facebook

However, prosecutors called the killing 'cold-blooded', arguing McLean knew exactly what he was doing when he carried out the killing.

They have so far presented four witnesses against McLean, including a man who stumbled on part of the victim's body as he walked his dog in the middle of the night. The man said his dog pulled him towards a suitcase in which he found dismembered body parts.

Cassandra McLean, 53, the sister of the deceased, told the New York Daily News that her nephew was a danger to society and should be jailed for life.

"If he could do that to his own mother, imagine what he could do to a stranger. I don't hate him I pity him," she told the paper.

The trial continues.

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Topics: Facebook

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