Court told man accused of murder was 'unable to control his actions'

The mother of a man who's admitted to killing South Korean student Eunji Ban in Brisbane, has choked back tears in court as she told how her son struggled with "demons" and had asked if ghost and horror movies were real.

Ruth McEwan sobbed as she told her son's murder trial how Alex had come to her days before Ban's death in November 2013 apologising for all his "stupid behaviour".

She claims he told her that he didn’t feel normal and that he had a “sphere rolling and rolling around in his head”.

On another occasion he asked her if “demons were real” like the ones in ghost and horror movies.

Alex Reuben McEwan has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter but not guilty to murder after Ban was bashed and dragged up a flight of stairs in Wickham Park in Brisbane's CBD.

Ban was walking to her work as a hotel cleaner at the time.

McEwan’s defence is arguing he wasn’t mentally well enough at the time to know he was carrying out murder, claiming he suffered from schizophrenia.

Today Alex’s sister Emma and his father Geoff also gave evidence, admitting they had noticed a change in his behavior mentally several years before the attack on Ban.

The family of Eunji Ban has flown in from South Korea to hear the proceedings which are expected to last for three weeks. 

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