Lawyers of the man behind the infamous Shakhoora murder have claimed that the convict has bipolar disorder and that the crime was carried out during a psychotic episode.
The 47-year-old Bahraini was earlier sentenced to death for killing his neighbour, Ali Mahdi Albasri, by stabbing him repeatedly, after years of harassing the 57-year-old victim.
Even though consultant psychiatrists declared the killer fit to stand trial twice, his defence team has appealed to judges to re-evaluate the death penalty.
“The appellant experiences delusions of grandeur, once claiming to be Jesus, and another time claiming to be the Mahdi (Islamic messiah),” read the defence memo submitted to the court yesterday.
“His bipolar disorder affected his cognition and ability to make choices and he cannot be held responsible for his actions.”
In July, the High Criminal Court found the man guilty of premeditated murder and dismissed claims by his defence team and family that he was mentally ill and unfit to stand trial.
However, his defence team took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court to contest the capital penalty, doubling down on claims that his mood disorder was the reason for his actions.
The defence memo also alleged that the Health Ministry Medical Commission’s conclusion, that the appellant’s mental illness did not absolve him of punishment, went against modern psychiatric conventions.
“The report was contradictory of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ fifth edition (DSM-5), even though it correctly stated that he had bipolar disorder,” the memo said.
“The Medical Commission only interviewed the appellant six days after the killing, and doctors were unable to get through to him as he was experiencing a psychotic fit and was refusing to communicate.
“He was prescribed an anti-psychotic injection – Invega – to improve his mental condition, which means that even six days after the incident, he remained unstable and his manic episode was still ongoing.
“The appellant had many symptoms of bipolar disorder, including paranoia, inflated self-esteem, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts, distractibility and changes his mind a lot.”
The GDN was able to get hold of the murderer’s psychiatric evaluation report for the first time since the trial’s beginning in April, which reported numerous anecdotes indicating his instability. According to the report, the Bahraini’s wife and relatives claimed that he had become increasingly paranoid leading up to the murder, creating his own religious rules and believing in delusions.
The man claimed that he was ‘being surveilled by Satan’ and that he was being watched by the US government, Israel and Iran on security cameras, the report recounted. He also reportedly stopped going to the mosque or praying towards Mecca, and no longer followed the advice of Islamic scholars.
“Bipolar disorder is one of the most severe and difficult-to-diagnose mental disorders. The condition is incurable, and he’s been suffering from it since 2001,” the defence memo claimed.
The GDN previously reported the High Criminal Court’s verdict, which granted Mr Albasri’s legal heirs the right to sue the killer for damages in Civil Court, and ordered him to pay them BD5,001 as temporary compensation.
The verdict clarified that the appellant’s hatred towards Mr Albasri began when the victim, a distant relative of his, moved into his neighbourhood and built an apartment building there.
He allegedly harassed the victim over the years and trashed surveillance cameras outside his apartment building on multiple occasions. He was jailed and following his release decided to end his neighbour’s life.
Ahead of their final confrontation, the resentful man studied Mr Albasri’s routine and stalked him to learn what time he usually left his home – the very building that sparked the killer’s bitter animosity.
On February 27 at 6.30am, the late Mr Albasri is said to have gone out to get breakfast for his family, when the killer, who had been lying in wait for 45 minutes, accosted him and rehashed old disputes. He then produced a knife and stabbed the victim seven times in the neck, chest and abdomen while sitting on top of him, targeting vital organs, and only stopped when the victim died.
Late Mr Albasri
During the trial’s first hearing, the man admitted to premeditated murder. However, he retracted his confession later in the proceedings as his defence team attempted to paint him as a paranoid man who experiences fits of psychosis.
A psychiatric evaluation, conducted during the investigation, found that the accused could be held responsible for his actions, but the defence was granted their request for a re-do of the report.
For a second time, a Health Ministry Medical Commission found that he did not have any mental issues that would render him incapable of answering for his deeds.
Mr Albasri was buried in his hometown of Jannusan, a day after his death, as hundreds of condolence messages poured in, remembering him as a pious man who was an active member of his community.
Supreme Criminal Appeals Court judges have set September 29 as the date to issue a verdict in the appeal.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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