The Court of Criminal Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a father against his conviction for the "extremely violent" murder of his baby son.
The issue at the trial of Yusuf Ali Abdi (31), a refugee from Somalia, was whether he was insane when he killed his 20-month-old son, Nathan Baraka Andrew Ali, on April 17th, 2001, at his home in Co Kildare. The jury returned a 10-2 majority verdict.
The child was born to Abdi and his wife, Ms Amanda Bailey, of Dundrum, Dublin. The couple were separated at the time of the killing but Ms Bailey and the child were visiting Abdi.
The appeal centred on the admissibility at trial of evidence from a psychiatrist to the effect that Abdi was not legally insane at the time of the murder.
During his trial in May 2003, Abdi, with an address at The Elms, College Road, Clane, Co Kildare, had denied murder and told the jury that, in the moments of the killing, he was "like a man possessed" and was responding to "voices" in his head that directed him to "hit him, hit him".
Two consultant psychiatrists called by the defence told the trial they believed Abdi was schizophrenic and legally insane.
However, Dr Damien Mohan, a consultant psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital, disagreed. At the trial the jury was told Abdi had been in the CMH for the previous two years.
Giving the CCA reserved judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Hardiman, with Mr Justice Murphy and Mr Justice Herbert, said Dr Mohan's evidence was admissible in principle and sufficiently grounded in fact to allow the jury reach a conclusion on it.