TWO psychiatrists must reassess the mental health of a young man accused of murdering his mother with an axe before the verdict in his trial can be delivered, a judge ordered in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
The order was made by Judge Christie Liebenberg, who had been expected to announce his verdict in the trial of murder accused Siegfried Uirab yesterday.
Instead of proceeding to deliver his judgement, though, Judge Liebenberg directed that two psychiatrists – of which one should not be in full-time service of the state – should carry out an inquiry to determine if Uirab is mentally fit to stand trial and if he can be held criminally responsible for his actions.
The judge said while preparing his judgement, he had come to the conclusion that he should not decide Uirab’s guilt based on the findings of a single psychiatrist who assessed his mental state after a month-long period of psychiatric observation in 2014.
He also said it would be in the interest of justice to have Uirab’s mental health re-evaluated by two independent psychiatrists.
Uirab has stood trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and assault by threat.
The prosecution alleged that he murdered his mother, Erika Uiras (63), when he attacked her with an axe at her house at Otjimbingwe on 21 November 2012, and that on the same occasion he also attacked and injured one of his sisters with the axe, and that he further tried to assault his niece, whom he chased around with the axe after the attack on his mother and sister.
The late Erika Uiras was struck on the head several times with the axe. She died in a hospital at Windhoek on 23 November 2012.
Uirab had been a patient in the psychiatric unit of the Windhoek Central Hospital for two weeks about two months before the incident, after he had been referred to the unit with a diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis. A state psychiatrist has told the court that during that stay in the psychiatric unit, no signs that he had a mental illness were detected.
Uirab also was admitted to the psychiatric unit for evaluated before he went on trial.
A state psychiatrist, Dr Hileni Ndjaba, stated that he was fit to stand trial and could be held accountable for his alleged crime.
Judge Liebenberg postponed Uirab’s case to 27 April.
Uirab is being represented by defence lawyer Titus Ipumbu. State advocate Felistas Shikerete-Vendura is prosecuting.
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