Photo: Contributed

A former elite Newfoundland athlete has been found not criminally responsible in the death of Marcel Reardon. Anne Norris, 28, charged with first-degree murder, appears via video link from the Correctional Centre for Women in Clarenville, N.L.

A former elite Newfoundland athlete has been found not criminally responsible in the death of a man who was repeatedly hit in the head with a hammer.

The families of both the accused and the victim, 46-year-old Marcel Reardon, broke down in tears as the verdict was read on Saturday morning. Reardon's brother stormed out of the courtroom.

Anne Norris will be placed in psychiatric care.

Norris had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Reardon's death, but admitted to repeatedly hitting him in the head with a hammer early in the morning of May 9, 2016.

Her defence team argued the former member of a provincial basketball team was in the grips of a mental disorder when she attacked him and should be found not criminally responsible.

But Crown prosecutor Iain Hollett told the court that evidence presented at the trial shows that Norris, now 30, was not delusional and planned a deliberate killing.

The trial before a jury of six men and six women went into deliberations Thursday afternoon.

They could have found Norris not criminally responsible, or guilty of either first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.