Treatment of man accused of killing baby son ‘beyond cruel’ – wife
THE wife of a man whose 2003 conviction for murdering their infant son was quashed after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 10 years later has told a jury that the way her husband has been treated is “beyond cruel”.
A retrial at the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday that a psychiatrist who gave evidence at the 2003 trial that the accused – who subsequently spent 16 years in jail – was not suffering from paranoid schizophrenia is now of the view that he displayed early signs of the condition at the time.
Amanda Bailey was giving evidence in the trial of her husband Yusif Ali Abdi (46), who is charged with murdering 20-month-old Nathan Baraka Andrew Ali at The Elms, College Road, Clane, Co Kildare, on April 17, 2001. Mr Abdi, of Charleville Road, Phibsboro, Dublin 7, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ms Bailey described her husband, who is originally from Somalia, as a “quiet fellow” and a caring partner.
She realised in January 1999 that she was pregnant and they got married in May of that year in order to give Mr Abdi legal status in Ireland so he would not be deported.
She agreed with prosecuting counsel Seamus Clarke that she was very much in love with her husband and Nathan was born on August 30, 1999.
Mr Abdi was later arrested following an incident with gardaí. Ms Bailey said she felt this event caused her partner to change, bringing back the fear he had once felt in Somalia.
She said her husband was not the same following a visit to Africa to find his family and depression set in on his return.
“Everything was negative, everything against him .... he accused me of making phone calls to people saying bad things about him,” she explained, adding that she had told her partner that he needed help from a doctor but he would not listen to her.
On the night of the killing, Ms Bailey said Mr Abdi came into the bedroom and carried Nathan out of the room.
She later heard him on the phone and knew something was wrong. When she went into the living room she found Nathan pale and with blood in his nose. She said he was limp and she couldn’t find a pulse or a heartbeat.
In cross-examination, Ms Bailey agreed with defence counsel Barry White SC that her memory was far superior at her husband’s trial in 2003.
“How he has been treated is beyond cruel and no one deserves to suffer in the way he has,” she stated.
The trial continues.