Insanity plea rejected
December 15, 2015 By Hawa Amara
Magistrate Komba Kamanda of the Freetown Magistrates’ Court No.1 yesterday ordered that second accused Paul Corn, who the defence team said was mentally disturbed, should continue his trial because the medical report of the psychiatrist doctor proves that he is fit to stand trial.
Magistrate Kamanda told the court that Dr. Edward A. Nahim stated in his report that the second accused was not mentally disturbed, thus rejecting the insanity plea by the defence.
He said a medical examination conducted on 9 December, 2015 reveals that the second accused is “lucid, free from hallucinations, thoughts coherent, orientation of time and place normal, with no paranoid delusions”.
He continued that the medical report also states that the accused had not been admitted at the Kissy mental hospital, contrary to what the defence claimed.
Defence counsel A. Bah on 19 November made an application that the second accused was mentally disturbed and unfit to stand trial, adding that his client should be taken to a mental doctor for treatment.
Mohamed Lamin Kamara and Paul Corn are charged with the murder of Hannah Bockarie, whose naked body was found at the Aberdeen beach on 13 August this year, prompting a huge backlash from female activists and human rights groups as they call for justice for her and other victims of sexual violence.
The matter was adjourned until 21 December.