By Aminata Phidelia Allie
In what could have been his final appearance in court, Joseph Margai Morgan, a self declared “mad man” has been sent to the kissy mental home by Magistrate Komba Kamanda of court no.2.
The accused, who is charged with two counts of conspiracy contrary to law, and a felony of obtaining money by false pretence contrary to section 32(1) of the larceny act of 1916 had been on remand at the Pademba road prison for the last one month.
During his fourth appearance, Joseph had presented a medical report that labeled him “medically imbalanced” and “not fit to plead” and was ordered detained until the authenticity of the medical report could be verified by consultant psychiatrist Dr.Edward Nahim who signed the
document.
Defence lawyer Saquee Kamanda told the court that Dr. Nahim could not make it to court because he was busy and had asked the court to rely on the document he signed. The lawyer said his client could not continue to suffer in prison simply because the doctor was not in court and called on the court to go by what he called “presumptions of regularities”, meaning his client should not be tried. He requested that his client be sent to Dr. Nahim’s hospital for further treatment.
Magistrate Kamanda emphasized that he was not comfortable with the notion that Dr. Nahim wanted the accused to go free on the basis that he was busy.
He added that even though he was not competent enough to comment on the medical report, acquitting the accused would send a negative signal and encourage other criminals to commit crime and end up bringing medical reports that label them “not fit to plead.” He said even relatives had said that the accused had no history of insanity.
He further stated that it was never his order that the accused be taken to Dr. Nahim’s hospital for treatment. Rather, he had ordered for him to be taken to either prisons hospital or to Connaught hospital. He said the big question was who took him to the psychiatrist and why.
He however granted the defence lawyer his request to send the accused to Dr. Nahim for further treatment and gave them a maximum of one month after which they should re-appear in court.
