Overview
- After three days of evidence, the Central Criminal Court will reconvene on February 3 for further submissions before judgment.
- A State consultant forensic psychiatrist testified the accused can enter a plea and participate in a trial with supports such as closed questions and an interpreter.
- The defence psychiatrist said the accused is utterly cognitively incapable of understanding plea choices and cannot engage with proceedings.
- Riad Bouchaker, 51, faces charges including the attempted murder of three children, serious harm to a creche manager, assaults on others, and production of a knife.
- Reporting restrictions bar naming the accused’s legal representatives and the doctors who gave evidence in the competency hearing.