OAKLAND — The Fremont man standing trial for the death of his mother admitted to killing her by hitting her with an ax over the head, shooting her multiple times in the back, slicing her torso open with two knives and taking out her heart.
Omar Malik Pettigen, 35, is accused of the killing of his mother, Nailah Pettigen, a 64-year-old retired special education teacher at American High School in Fremont. She was found dead in her Fremont home on Sept. 29, 2015.
In the courtroom of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer, Omar Pettigen took the stand in his own defense, openly admitting to killing his mother. But he said he did it because the voices in his head told him that she was a witch, and that he needed to kill her before she killed him.
He described, in detail, the brutal killing and disemboweling of his mother as he testified on the stand Wednesday. He said that he remembered taking a shower at her home, then the voices telling him he needed to go kill his mother. He then took a hammer and an ax from the wall, and accused his mother of being the witch of Josephine Baker (an American-French entertainer).
Then, he believes his mother told him, “If you’re going to kill someone, you better have a mother-f*****g plan.”
He went into detail about how he first hit her over the head with the hatchet, then pulled her off the bed onto the floor on her stomach, while she was possibly still breathing, and shot her five times in her back “to make sure she was dead.”
“I thought she was going to come back from life,” he said, deadpan, showing no emotion.
He then took two knives from the kitchen, stabbed her multiple times in the chest, and slit her open from her throat to her stomach. He then pulled out her heart, or pieces of her heart, he said.
When asked by his defense attorney Patrick Jenson why he did this, he responded again with “to make sure she was dead.”
According to court documents, Omar Pettigen at first admitted to all this with police when he was arrested in October 2015, but said it was in self-defense because the two had gotten into a fight, and she pulled a gun on him. But in court on Wednesday, he said that was all a lie.
After killing her, Omar Pettigen said he took another shower and masturbated. Then he went to check in at the nearby Extended Stay Hotel in Fremont. The next day, the voices told him to go ask a woman out on a date at the Bank of America, he said. Then, he took BART first to Hayward where he got food and a beer, and then to San Francisco where he checked into the Omni Hotel.
At a restaurant in San Francisco, he gave his server a Band-Aid box filled with $1,300 in cash. According to court documents, he told her, “I think you deserve this. … Don’t worry, it’s not Band-Aids.”
The hearing of the voices was not mentioned in those first police interviews. It wasn’t until he spoke with a doctor after his mental competency was questioned that he mentioned the voices, he testified.
As to why he killed his mother, Omar Pettigen said, “I thought I was doing the right thing.” He said he had a good relationship with his mother, and they never really had a fight.
His attorney showed him photos of the two of them; in one wearing matching outfits when he was a teenager; in another, the two were smiling at his high school graduation. Omar Pettigen even called her his “best friend.”
He admitted that he had first heard voices in his childhood, around the age of 10 or 11. The voices told him to kill himself. He also talked about eating excrement as a child, and seeing multiple spaceships in the sky on several occasions.
He said he’s currently on medication and is being treated for schizophrenia.
Omar Pettigen pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. This means that if found guilty, there will be a separate hearing, with the same jury, to determine if he was sane during the time of the killing. If found insane, he could serve his sentence at a state mental facility.
Also on the stand Wednesday morning was Omar Pettigen’s father, Sal Pettigen, who was Nailah Pettigen’s ex-husband.
“I’m the victim here. … I lost a wife and I lost my son,” he said.
The two had been divorced, but were planning on marrying again, he said. Omar Pettigen was going to give them his blessing, he said, a special rite in their religion of Islam.
His father was combative with the prosecutors, at times asking him what his point was in asking the question, or repeatedly saying that he had already answered a question.
He testified that he was concerned about his son’s mental well-being after a trip to Morocco the two took together. Sal Pettigen testified about how he noticed at one point that his son hadn’t showered in weeks, and he then took a shower with all his clothes on.
Cross-examination of Omar Pettigen by Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jason Sjoberg will continue Monday.