A fitting send-off for Justice Iain Morley
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The tenure of Justice Iain Morley as a High Court judge in Antigua and Barbuda has come to an end as the Judge has been reassigned to St. Kitts and Nevis.
In recognition of his contribution to the local criminal justice system over the past four years, the Judiciary held a virtual send off for the well-learned barrister on Monday.
Justice Ann-Marie Smith, who recently joined the High Court bench in Antigua as a criminal Judge replacing Justice Stanley John, was the first to thank Justice Morley for his service.
Mentally ill man pleads guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility
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A mentally ill man who was charged with murdering a woman in 1997 has admitted to a lesser charge of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility when he was arraigned yesterday in the High Court.
Wilson Adams is now convicted of killing 61-year-old Gabrielle Stocker after he slashed her throat and bashed her head while she was relaxing on Runaway Beach 23 years ago.
But the 56-year-old man was declared insane back then and has since been in the Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital.
Now, more than two decades later, he has been officially declared fit to stand trial and his attorney, Wendel Robinson, requested the reduced charge since his mind was impaired at the time of the killing.
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Rape accused deemed unfit to plea
The court will decide on February 1 where to place a man who has been deemed unfit to plea in a rape case.
The man in question was assessed by consultant psychiatrist Dr Griffin Benjamin on Thursday for the first time since he was charged in 2018.
Dr Benjamin told the court that the man is not mentally stable at this time and suffers from acute psychosis and is therefore not fit to plea.
In his preliminary report, the doctor suggested that the man’s mental state may be linked to substance abuse.
The 26-year-old man, who had to be escorted to court by police hours before his assessment, is known to have mental episodes and even exhibited strange behaviour while in the court room.
Judge accepts reduced plea for murderer diagnosed with schizophrenia
High Court Judge Justice Iain Morley has accepted a plea of manslaughter by “reason of diminished responsibility” for Wilson Adams, after hearing psychiatric testimony from consultant psychiatrist Dr Griffin Benjamin.
Adams was charged with murder in January 1997 after killing 61-year-old Gabrielle Stocker in cold blood while she relaxed on the sand at Runaway Beach.
According to court documents, he bashed the woman’s head in with a rock and then slashed her throat because the voices in his head told him to do it.
Adam’s attorney Wendel Robinson requested a reduced charge last year, when the consultant decided that the now 56-year-old-man was fit to plea, after spending more than two decades at the Clarevue Psychiatric Hospital.