Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN

The lawyer of a double murder suspect filmed sitting naked on his prison bed and snarling like a cat is calling for him to be moved to a psychiatric hospital.

Lawyer Maximiliano Legrand says his client, Gilad Gil Pereg, 37, appears to be suffering from serious mental health issues and according to his lawyer, he needs proper treatment rather than being held behind bars in prison.

Pereg, who is accused of killing his mother and aunt and burying their bodies in his courtyard, prowls his cell naked on all fours and smears his own poo on the walls at San Felipe Prison in the city of Mendoza in western Argentina, according to reports.

He was arrested in January for strangling his mother, Pyrhia Saroussy, 63, and shooting dead his aunt, Lily Pereg, 54, before burying their bodies at his home in the Buena Nueva district of the city.

Pereg has since been held in isolation at the jail where guards say he has taken to acting like a cat and demanding to be called ‘Nicolas’.

Mr Legrand said: “This is a person who needs appropriate treatment and that can only happen in a psychiatric hospital. We are looking at someone who is mentally ill and who should not be in prison.”

Pereg’s feline-like behaviour reportedly extends to defecating on the ground, refusing to wash, licking himself clean and walking around his cell naked on all fours.

One guard, who asked not to be named, said: “When he poos in the cell, he picks it up and uses it to write the names of his cats on the wall.”

Smartphone footage shot by a guard shows Pereg sitting naked on his bed as his cell door is opened for him to be taken to see the prison doctor.

When the guard asks if he is going to put on his clothes, Pereg snarls at him and scratches at the air like an angry cat.

Police say Pereg had more than 20 cats and five dogs at his home, while two dead cats had been stuffed and put on display. He is said to be highly intelligent – with an IQ of 180 – but his behaviour is irrational.

Cops say his house was filthy, littered with rubbish and porn magazines, and it seemed he had existed on cat food and diet supplements.

So far, Pereg remains in prison where he is awaiting a trial on two counts of murder.

Picture Credit: CEN