Bowe Maddigan had become paranoid and erratic by the time police discovered him trying to walk barefoot to Melbourne along the Hume Freeway.

Senior Constable Emily Hudson told Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court she found the 29-year-old at 6.30am on October 24 dazed, shaking and unsteady on his feet.

Maddigan was also holding a kitchen knife he used to cut his arms.

“He started to talk unintelligible thoughts such as ‘he is coming to get me’,” Senior Constable Hudson said.

Maddigan was admitted to Wangaratta Hospital’s psychiatric ward as an involuntary patient, where police observed him switch between laughing and crying.

Leading Senior Constable Lucy Smith said he threw hot coffee in his face while laying in the hospital bed, then shouted “who did that?”.

She said Maddigan repeated words such as “nothing’s real, I don’t want to be here, I’m not crazy you know”.

His housemate had previously found unopened packets of anti-psychotic medication in his house.