ONE of Americas most notorious serial killers, who once lived in Bentham, is facing execution by lethal injection.

Charles Ng, who attended Bentham Grammar School as a child, has been convicted of killing six men, three women and two baby boys in a spree of kidnapping and torture over a number of years.

Ng's accomplice, Leonard Lake, escaped trial after he killed himself with cyanide.

Lawyers for Ng are trying to stop the execution following psychiatric reports which suggest he was beaten by his father and had a mental disorder that made him do as Lake told him.

The Californian lawyers also said Ng had since helped other inmates at the prison where he is awaiting his fate.

Defending, William Kelley has told jurors in Santa Ana: "You will realise that he is a person of value and he should be saved."

Boston psychiatrist Dr Stuart Grassian said Ng, a former US Marine, has severe personality problems which developed early in his life because of a strict upbringing. Dr Gressian said: "He was never encouraged as a child to be assertive. He was always morbidly shy and when teachers said that he didn't speak in class his father would beat him with a cane. He felt debased, devalued and was told he was stupid."

He said that Ng arrived in the US and sought guidance from authority figures because he was incapable of determining his own path in life.

While in the Marines Ng joined others and stole weapons and then later he teamed up with Lake when the San Francisco killing spree began.

Ng's auntie took the stand and told the jury that as a boy he was very pleasant and always smiled for photographs.

He was extradited from Canada to stand trial in 1991 and has spent a total of 14 years in jail. The grisly details of the case have horrified American TV viewers.

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