Woman who killed in-law not guilty by reason of insanity
EAST WINDSOR » The East Windsor woman who bludgeoned her elderly motherin-law to death in a 2016 attack has been found not guilty of all charges by reason of insanity.
Tasneem Diwan, 47, armed herself with a vase and struck 73-year-old Safia Diwan in the head several times inside their Mozart Court home on Jan. 26, 2016. Tasneem Diwan then cleaned the blood off of the vase and fled the scene, leaving her mother-inlaw for dead, according to statements made in court.
Several days after the slaying, authorities located Tasneem Diwan in Atlantic City and arrested her on murder charges and weapons offenses.
It turns out that the killer had a long history of mental illness and that she was suffering from delusional disorder at the time of the murder, believing she was going to be harmed by her husband and motherin-law, according to statements made in court.
Diwan on Wednesday waived her right to a trial by jury and opted to have her case decided by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier.
“She was not guilty by reason of insanity when she committed this murderous act,” Billmeier said Wednesday from the bench. He noted that the defendant did not understand what she was doing and “did not know it was wrong,” citing psychiatric reports.
Billmeier acquitted Diwan of all counts by virtue of her insanity. However, because the defendant is considered to pose an unacceptable risk of harm to herself and others if released, he ruled that Diwan shall be committed to Anne Klein Forensic Center as soon as a hospital bed is available for her to be admitted there as a psychiatric patient.
Diwan was being held on $1 million full bond or cash bail since her arrest
on Jan. 30, 2016.
The 2016 murder rocked the sleepy Township of East Windsor when the Mercer County Homicide Task Force came out to probe the slaying. Authorities responded to the home after Safia Diwan’s son found his mother laying in a pool of her blood in the office of their home, according to prosecutors and a 9-1-1 tape obtained by The Trentonian.
Safia Diwan had been dead for hours, prosecutors said, indicating rigor mortis had set in by the time the woman’s son found her. Tasneem Diwan was not home when the victim’s body was found and her green 2000 Nissan Quest minivan was not parked outside.
The mother-in-law had been struck multiple times in the head, and an autopsy later concluded her manner of death was blunt force trauma to the head, authorities said.
“My wife is supposed to be here, but she’s not here, and she’s not answering her phone,” her husband told the emergency dispatcher, according to the 9-1-1 tape. “I don’t know where she is.”
Diwan appeared in court Wednesday morning wearing a beige-colored coat over an orange inmate jumpsuit. Defense attorney Joseph Mazraani represented her in the case and expressed concerns on the possibility that it could take many weeks before Anne Klein has capacity to admit his client.
Billmeier said Diwan will be considered a priority for admission into the Trenton-based forensic center and that the New Jersey Department of Human Services has the option to admit her into another state-run psychiatric facility if Anne Klein remains booked out for a prolonged period of time.