An accused charged for the murder of a ten-year-old boy is said to be unfit to stand trial.
The accused, Gibson Tipasua is on trial for the murder of Hence Taupongi in Rennell on April last year.Giving evidence in court last Thursday on the case, the National Referral Hospital psychiatrist, Doctor Paul Orotaloa said that Mr. Tipasua who has been mentally ill before and after the incident is unfit to stand trial.
Dr. Orotaloa told the court that the psychologically affected accused, who is said to have cut the little boy into halves, realized what he had done and carried the body in a copra bag from Niupani to Tevautahe village in East Rennell.
The court heard that the 24-year-old accused has been a marijuana addict for "quite a while", which has affected his brain.
Dr. Orotaloa said that an examination on the accused on March 28th showed that the accused was capable of standing trial.
This however changed when a follow up examination a month later revealed that Mr. Tipasua had turned for worse mentally.
Dr. Orotaloa said the second examination found that to have a normal conversation with Mr. Tipasua was hard.
The court heard that the accused have had a normal childhood upbringing where he received formal education through to high school in Rennell.
Weird behaviours in the village prompted them to send him to the psychiatrist ward at the hospital in Honiara.
Dr. Orotaloa told the court that Mr. Tipasua had stopped taking medications after he got out of hospital, leading up to the day he murdered the young Hence.
The court heard that Mr. Tipasua's parents divorced when he was a little boy, third in a family of five.
Following the divorce, Mr. Tipasua was adopted by Joseph and Corina Tahua while other relatives adopted two of his other siblings.
His younger sister and brother are with his biological mother back in the village.
The trial continues in Honiara.