Fit to plead or not?
MANCHESTER housewife Kacey-Ann Roxanne Blair, who has been charged with the murder of her husband, Constable Damien Blair, is to undergo a forensic psychiatric evaluation.
Forensic psychiatry in criminal and civil matters involves seeking the help of psychiatrists who will conduct various tests to understand the mental capacity of the accused and provide opinions to the court regarding the ability of the defendant to, for example, have a factual and rational understanding of allegations against them, among other things.
Based on this, the trial judge will make a determination as to whether or not the defendant is fit to plead to determine if they can stand trial.
The request was one of two made by attorney Tamika Harris, who is representing the widow who appeared before the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Thursday.
Harris also requested Mrs Blair’s medical records from Mandeville Regional Hospital, where she had been laid up for several days after apparently attempting suicide following the alleged attack on her husband.
According to a police report, about 6:25 pm on May 29 Constable Blair was reportedly shot inside the family house — located at Desmond McKenzie Close, formerly Guava Walk Road in Somerset, a deep-rural community in north-west Manchester — allegedly by his wife, with his licensed pistol. The wounded cop reportedly ran from the house they shared only to collapse at his gate, where further wounds were reportedly inflicted with a hammer.
The police, who were summoned by citizens, said the accused woman had barricaded herself in a section of the house. She was eventually found with a laceration to her wrist. Her husband was pronounced dead at hospital while she was admitted in stable condition.
The case of the 33-year-old woman, who was discharged from the hospital on Monday and later charged, was transferred to the Home Circuit Court on a voluntary bill of indictment which was proffered by the Crown.
She is to reappear before Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey on July 19.
According to relatives of the slain cop, the couple, who were married for eight years of a 13-year relationship, had a tumultuous union. They said the cop had made plans to separate from his wife before the unthinkable happened.
