Kenyan Woman Charged with Killing Malawian Man in Ireland Declared Unfit to Stand Trial
A Kenyan-born woman charged with killing a Malawian national in south Dublin, Ireland has been declared unfit to stand trial.
50-year-old Grace Miano allegedly killed Limbani ‘Robert’ Mzoma, 27, at her home in Foxrock, Dublin on November 1st, 2018.
On Tuesday, the Central Criminal Court's Justice Eileen Creedon was told that there was an issue to be decided by her regarding Ms. Miano’s fitness to be tried.
The prosecution called Dr. Ronan Mullaney, a consultant forensic psychiatrist from the Central Mental Hospital (CMH), to give evidence on the issue.
Dr. Mullaney told the court that he prepared two reports after interviewing the accused on several occasions in order to give his opinion regarding her fitness to stand trial.
He said he established that Ms. Miano had suffered from auditory hallucinations over many years prior to the alleged offense.
"Ms. Miano continued to present in subsequent assessments as mentally unwell and the insight into her illness remained poor," Mullaney said.
Dr. Mullaney also said the accused recounted a number of “deluded conspiracy beliefs” when he interviewed her in February this year.
He also said Grace suffers from schizoaffective disorder, a mental disorder which is characterized by holding “bizarre and infeasible delusional beliefs.”
Based on these assessments, the witness concluded that the accused person was unfit to be tried according to the criteria in Section 4 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006.
Dr. Mullaney said Grace is unable to plead to the charge, instruct an attorney or make a proper defense.
The defense team also called Dr. Paul O’Connell, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the CMH, to give evidence.
Dr. O’Connell said that after several meetings with the accused, he formed an opinion that she was unfit to stand trial as she is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
“She is not capable of considering her defense options and could not give a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity proper exploration,” he said.
On Thursday, Justice Creedon made an order committing the accused to the Central Mental Hospital until June 20th.
She also ordered the preparation of a psychiatric assessment by an approved medical officer.