A THIRD psychiatrist has made a finding that former medical aid fund employee Johny Ryno Diergaardt, who is being charged with the knife murder of his girlfriend in Windhoek in March 2014, is fit to stand trial and did not have a mental illness at the time of the incident over which he is due to be prosecuted.
Diergaardt (35) did not have a mental illness before the incident over which he has been charged took place, and there is also no evidence that he suffered from a mental illness after that incident, psychiatrist Gerhard Marx states in a report that was given to judge Nate Ndauendapo during Diergaardt’s latest appearance in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Dr Marx, who is the third psychiatrist to have evaluated Diergaardt’s mental state, concluded in his report that Diergaardt is fit to stand trial.
With three psychiatrists having now found Diergaardt fit to be tried, judge Ndauendapo postponed his case to 5 November for the start of his trial.
The state is charging that Diergaardt murdered the 22-year-old Tiffany Tanita Lewin, who was his girlfriend and had a child with him, in Khomasdal, Windhoek, on 3 March 2014. Diergaardt is accused of having killed Lewin when he stabbed her 27 times with knives after she had arrived at the room where he was living in Khomasdal.
Diergaardt told a magistrate during a bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura in April 2014 that the stabbing of Lewin had been a mistake that had happened in a moment of weakness.
He has applied to be granted bail twice, but both applications have been turned down, and judge Ndauendapo again directed yesterday that he should be kept in custody to await the start of his trial.
In his report, Dr Marx stated: “It is my opinion that he understood right from wrong during the period the alleged offence occurred. I think he is able to stand trial as he was able to give me a fairly comprehensive rundown of how the trial is likely to play out.
“In conclusion, I can find no reason from a mental health perspective why he cannot stand trial, or to doubt his ability to decide right from wrong during the incident.”
Two other psychiatrists who evaluated Diergaardt’s mental state about two years ago reached similar conclusions as Dr Marx.
Dr Marx was asked to also evaluate Diergaardt’s mental state after defence lawyer Boris Isaacks informed the court in October last year that Diergaardt’s defence on the charges he is facing rested on the question whether he could be held accountable for his alleged actions at the time the alleged crimes were committed, and whether he could remember the incident.
Diergaardt was initially scheduled to go on trial in October last year, but his case was instead postponed so that he could be evaluated by Dr Marx.
Advocate Seredine Jacobs is representing the prosecution. Defence lawyer Braam Cupido represented Diergaardt during his court appearance yesterday.
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