A Tanzanian national linked to the Garissa University Rashid Mberesero who has been declared unfit to stand trial.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A Tanzanian national linked to the Garissa University deadly terror attack that killed 147 students is not fit to stand a trial a Nairobi court was told on Wednesday.
The suspect Rashid Mberesero is said to have suffered a mental breakdown in prison.
State counsel Eddie Kaddebe produced a letter from Mathare mental hospital showing that the accused needed to continue with his treatment.
He was declared unfit to stand trial after a report from a psychiatrist stated that he had been on treatment for “bizarre behavior” at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison
Rashid was charged alongside Mohamed Abdikar, Hassan Aden, Sahal Diriye and Osman Abdi over the attack executed on April 2, 2015.
Trial magistrate Daniel Ogembo had earlier ordered that Mberesero be escorted to the mental hospital for examination.
This was after it emerged that he had been allegedly been injected with an unknown substance at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison medical facility.
A mental examination report filed at the trial court in Nairobi stated that “he was given his last monthly injection on September 12”.
“He reports abnormal experiences, he believes that people around him have evil intentions,” Dr Mucheru Wang’ombe writes in the report.
The doctor stated that the suspect requires continuous medication and frequent evaluations of his mental status.
“The report says that the fifth accused person be treated at Mathare Hospital every month, [and] as such, he is not in a position to stand trial and in the circumstances we need time to consult,” prosecutor Eddie Kadebe said.
Lawyer Chacha Mwita told the court that the accused was subjected to the injection at the remand facility without any explanation on July 12, 2016.
Further prosecution sought to be given time to consult the DPP how to proceed with the case against his co-accused persons.
During trial, a prosecution witness told the court that the suspect sold second hands clothes in Garissa before his arrest following the
April 2, 2015 terrorist attack.
Mbereseso was arrested while hiding under a bed at the university and told detectives that he was a student but failed to explain how he ended up at the institution on the morning of the raid.
He is also facing a charge of being in Kenya illegally as he had no documents allowing him to be in the county.
The case will be mentioned on October 21.
