A Magistrate Court in Tema has ordered a psychiatric hospital to conduct medical examination on Abigail Agbugbia, the 28-year-old woman who allegedly killed her two children at Manhean, a suburb of Tema Newtown in the Greater Accra Region.
This is to enable the court to ascertain whether or not Abigail is mentally sound to stand trial. The court, therefore, directed the prosecutor to ensure that its orders were carried out.
According to the court, the medical report on the accused person should be ready by the next adjourned date — August 17, 2020.
This decision follows a complaint by parents of the suspect that she was mentally unstable as a result of previous mental health experiences.
Inspector Emmanuel K. Mensah, therefore, had told the court, presided over by Mrs. Akosua A. Adjepong, that investigation showed the accused person might not be mentally sound and needed an order to get her to be checked by doctors.
Abigail’s plea was not immediately taken but a provisional charge of murder had been preferred against her and read to her.
The prosecutor said on July 30, 2020 at about 5:30 p.m., the Tema Regional CID had information that two children were found dead in her room at Manhean Newtown in Tema.
The crime scene team visited the place where they found the motionless bodies of a boy and a girl aged two and eight months respectively in a wooden structure.
On inspection, no marks of assault were found on the bodies. However, their mouths and nostrils were foamy. Police retrieved a bottle containing some liquid which had been sent to the police forensic laboratory for examination.
The bodies of the children were conveyed to the Police Hospital where they were confirmed dead by a medical officer; the bodies had been deposited at the hospital morgue for autopsy.
Meanwhile, Abigail had been remanded in police custody for further investigations.
FROM Vincent Kubi, Tema