Magistrate upholds defence request on Melvin Theuma psychiatric report

Magistrate Rachel Montebello has upheld a request to have court-appointed experts describe their findings on Melvin Theuma’s psychiatric state in court

Middleman: Melvin Theuma
Middleman: Melvin Theuma

Magistrate Rachel Montebello has upheld a request to have court-appointed experts describe their findings on Melvin Theuma’s psychiatric state, in court.

In an application filed yesterday, Yorgen Fenech’s defence requested that court-appointed psychiatrists who assessed prosecution star witness Melvin Theuma be summoned to testify about the stage at which their investigations had reached.

The request was filed on Tuesday, after Magistrate Rachel Montebello had decreed that Theuma would not testify in the murder compilation until his psychiatric evaluation was concluded.

The court underscored the fact that it had ordered an expert to assess Theuma psychiatrically, at the defence’s request, and said that this order had to be respected and not “set to one side by the defence as if it had never been given.”

Therefore the request for the hearing of court-appointed experts had to be done before any request to hear the witness in question.

“The court expects that requests filed by the defence lawyers should follow the serious and due consideration expected of court officials in criminal proceedings, rather than being filed haphazardly,” noted the court, ordering its decree be brought to the attention of the Police Commissioner in order to summon the experts. 

READ MORE: Psychological evaluation into Melvin Theuma must conclude before he can testify again, court rules