Manama, September 14: A KEY witness in the case of a man, who claimed voices in his head told him to kill his housemaid, failed to appear in court yesterday.
A medical examiner was due to be cross-examined yesterday at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court, but the defence team said he was abroad on vacation.
The Bahraini defendant, who launched an appeal against his murder conviction, was also absent during his court hearing because he was at the Psychiatric Hospital in Manama.
The man, in his early 20s, was found guilty of attempted rape and murder of his 28-year-old Ethiopian housemaid in April and was jailed for life by the High Criminal Court.
He reportedly smashed his maid’s head against a metal headboard and then strangled her with his hands after she refused to strip for him.
He, however, lodged an appeal against his conviction in the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court in June.
Defence lawyer Fatima Al Hawaj told judges that medical examiner Dr Mohammed Sayed Zaki, who was due to be cross examined yesterday, is abroad on vacation.
She also informed judges that her client was not brought to the court by police because he had been admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital.
It is understood the defendant was transferred to the hospital to serve his life sentence after psychiatrists argued he was mentally unstable.
The man reportedly locked the maid in his room while she was cleaning and told her to take off her clothes in February last year.
He is said to have attacked her after she refused.
Defence lawyers earlier argued he was mentally ill and a psychiatrist, who testified he suffered from hallucinations and schizophrenia, claimed he might have turned violent after abandoning his medication.
A witness, who appeared at an earlier hearing, described how the defendant, who worked as a driver, called him the same day of the murder to confess. An autopsy report later concluded the woman, whose neck was covered with handprints, died from asphyxiation.
Judges adjourned the case to November 15 to cross-examine the witnesses.
The defendant is also standing trial at the High Criminal Court for allegedly raping a patient at the Psychiatric Hospital.
–Agencies–