Rape suspect ‘mentally ill’

A RESIDENT of Fransfontein in the Kunene Region, who is charged with multiple counts of rape, is mentally ill and is not fit to stand trial, a State psychiatrist testified in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.

The psychiatrist, Dr Seddie Alibusa, told Judge Nate Ndauendapo that he and a team of people involved in the psychiatric observation of rape suspect Mathias Aibeb from March 28 to April 30 this year concluded that Aibeb is suffering from chronic schizophrenia.Aibeb was mentally ill when he allegedly committed the crimes he is accused of, had no appreciation of the wrongfulness of his alleged actions, has no criminal responsibility, is unable to follow court proceedings, and cannot provide information useful for meaningful judicial decisions, Dr Alibusa reported to the court.The findings in Dr Alibusa’s report are the opposite of the conclusions reached in two previous reports by psychiatrists who had been asked to observe Aibeb to assess his mental health and fitness to stand trial. In the previous reports, dating from 2003 and 2008, it was found that Aibeb was not mentally ill and that he is fit to stand trial.Dr Alibusa said Aibeb ‘was in his own world’ at the start of his period of psychiatric observation. His behaviour was agitated at times and he had a habit of pushing folded pieces of paper into crevices in the ground at the hospital where he was kept during the observation period, Dr Alibusa said.He described Aibeb’s thoughts as ‘grossly fragmented’, and told the court that when Aibeb was asked what his name was during one of the interviews conducted with him, he wrote ‘Dicthator O/D Beathsics’.Aibeb denied hearing any voices, but kept referring to a white man in most of his statements, the psychiatrist said.State psychiatrist Dr Ndahambelela Mthoko, who signed the 2008 report, is now due to testify before Judge Ndauendapo on her findings on Wednesday next week.Aibeb is charged with four counts of rape. He is accused of raping a seven-year-old girl at Fransfontein twice on February 22 2006, when he was 32 years old, and of also raping a mentally handicapped man at Fransfontein on March 3 2007 and again on March 25 2009.Aibeb is being represented by Mese Tjituri, on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid. State advocate Innocentia Nyoni is representing the prosecution.