A doctor who stabbed her three year old autistic son to death in their south Dublin home has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital having been found not guilty of his murder by reason of insanity.
Kuwaiti national Maha Al Adheem (43) told a doctor that she is glad her trial is over and hopes to visit her son's grave.
The trial heard that she told gardaí who arrived at the scene: “I did it, I stabbed my son and then stabbed myself”. A large amount of blood was observed on Dr Al Adheem’s hands and clothing before the boy’s body was found lying in the middle of a bed in the one bedroom apartment.
Omar Omran was stabbed 20 times, mainly to the trunk of his body. His cause of death was multiple stab wounds to his chest, abdomen and trunk as well as to his right thigh.
There were signs of defensive injuries to the boy’s right hand and a silver stainless steel knife was found at the top of the bed.
Dr Al Adheem told gardaí in her interviews that “a power” had made her go to a drawer and remove the knife.
The doctor, with an address at Riverside, Poddle Park, Kimmage, Dublin 12 had pleaded not guilty to murdering Omar Omran on July 10th, 2017.
On Thursday, a jury of nine men and three women returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
On Friday, prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC called Dr Ronan Mullally, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, to report on her condition and make recommendations for her ongoing care.
Dr Mullally told the court he has had a role in Dr Al Adheem’s care at the hospital since July 2017. He said he spoke to her following the jury verdict and she showed “partial insight” into her illness and understood the purpose of the assessment.
She was happy that her trial is over, agreeable to ongoing treatment and hopes to visit her son’s grave. She presented as neatly-dressed, wearing a hijab, and made good eye contact, he said. Her speech is coherent, she described her mood as good and has no thoughts of self harm or of harming others.
He saw no evidence of ongoing paranoia or delusions.
She suffers from schizophrenia and will require ongoing treatment, Dr Mullally said, including medication, psychological treatment and therapy. Her condition will be further reviewed by the Mental Health Review Board and in the future she will be considered for conditional discharge.
The witness recommended to the court that Dr Al Adheem be committed to the hospital and he confirmed that there was a bed available for her there.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said she was satisfied to make an order committing her to the hospital.
Two consultant psychiatrists gave evidence during the Central Criminal Court trial that Dr Al Adheem was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in July 2017. The defendant was unable to appreciate that what she did at the time was morally wrong and would have been unable to refrain from her actions, they said. The doctor met the requirements for the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, the court heard.