The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A psychiatrist has told the trial of a 15-year-old girl accused of two murders in Spalding that she was suffering from a disorder which impaired her judgement.
Dr Indranil Chakrabarti, who specialises in child and adolescents, told the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday (Oct 12) that the girl had intended to kill both Liz Edwards and her 13-year-old daughter Katie.
He agreed she was “excited” and “looking forward” to killing Mrs Edwards and afterwards was relieved that the act was carried out.
The girl is alleged to have been involved with a boy – also 14 at the time – in the killings of school dinner lady Liz and Katie at their home in Dawson Avenue.
The jury has heard that the teenagers had planned to carry out a killing each but the girl changed her mind at the last minute and the boy carried out both killings.
Afterwards, the jury has heard, they took a bath together to wash off the blood, watched Twilight and had sex.
Dr Chakrabarti said that in his opinion the girl was suffering from a psychiatric condition known as an adjustment disorder which impaired her judgement and gave her a defence of diminished responsibility. He agreed that the girl had never previously been diagnosed with any mental illness.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC, in cross-examination, suggested that the fact the girl had planned the killings with the boy meant that at the time she was capable of making rational judgements.
He said: “She was in control. There was planning to take a bath, planning to watch Twilight, planning to have sex which they did after the killings.”
The prosecutor said the planning also included stabbing the victims through the voice box so they could not scream.
The jury was told that a second psychiatrist due to give evidence came to the opposite opinion to Dr Chakrabarti.
Both victims were stabbed in the neck by the boy as they lay asleep in adjoining bedrooms at their home. The prosecution say the girl had planned the killings with the boy and is just as guilty of murder as he is.
Mr Joyce said a relative of the accused girl had described the combination of the two 14-year-olds as “a ticking time bomb waiting to go off”.
He added that the relative “thought it was a disastrous time bomb. That bomb went off in April when they killed.”
Later on Wednesday, consultant psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph told the jury that when he interviewed the girl as part of an assessment she told him she was pleased that Liz was dead.
Dr Joseph said the girl told him: “She deserved it. I’m glad she’s dead.”
The girl, he said, spoke of watching the vampire themed Twilight and having sex with the boy after the killings.
Dr Joseph said the girl told him: “We felt laid back about what we’d done and neither of us felt that bad about it. We both willingly went along with it.”
Describing the girl, he said: “She is an intelligent teenager. She was fairly engaging and quite cheerful.”
Dr Joseph added that the girl told him: “Everything is wrong with me. For a 15-year-old to be talking about it like it was a breeze means there must be something wrong with me.”
But Dr Joseph said that his opinion was that the girl was not suffering from any abnormality of mind at the time of the killings. The defence says she was suffering from an adjustment disorder which impaired her judgement and gives her a defence of diminished responsibility.
But Dr Joseph said: “It is absolutely clear that she was not suffering from any sort of mental illness at the time.
“Even if she was suffering from an adjustment disorder it does not make you violent. I have never heard of a case of a planned killing as a result of adjustment disorder.”
The girl denies two charges of murder between April 12 and 15 this year but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The boy has admitted two charges of murder.
The trial continues.
