Recently, a case caught the attention of fans, involving one of the anime in the world, Bleach . New evidence presented in the defense of Gabriel Hikari Yad-Elohim , accused of the murder of 69-year-old Michael Mulholland in Auckland, New Zealand. The crime took place in 2017, when Yad-Elohim, 36, attacked Mulholland, and was arrested and convicted.
The defense claims that Yad-Elohim was recreating a scene from the popular anime Bleach at the time of the crime. Law News report on December 13th and The New Zealand Herald on January 13th indicate that forensic psychiatrist Dr. Cavney, who worked on the case, discovered the anime scene weeks after the trial and revealed it to the defense, being fully represented in the Court of Appeal.
Yad-Elohim, diagnosed with schizophrenia before committing the crime. During the trial, the defense pleaded insanity, but the jury rejected the claim. In May 2023, Yad-Elohim appealed his conviction with the help of statements from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Chaplow, but the Court of Appeal upheld the decision.
However, in a last-ditch attempt, Yad-Elohim took the case to the New Zealand Supreme Court in July 2024. The court reviewed a video and a transcript of a monologue Yad-Elohim had given in Japanese, approximately 24 hours after the attack. . According to the court, the video showed significant similarities with the attack and the monologue, which created credibility for the evidence.
Finally, to date, the New Zealand Supreme Court has not announced the date on which it will hear Yad-Elohim's case.
