YET another psychiatric evaluation has been ordered by a judge for double-murder accused, Ravendranauth Mohanlall, who has been on remand awaiting his trial for close to 10 years.
At the Berbice High Court on Thursday, Justice Sandil Kissoon made the recommendation, noting that it was to “ascertain his fitness to plea.”

This will be the third such recommendation for Mohanlall, a Corentyne fisherman also known as ‘Fred,’ who is yet to prove he is fit to stand trial. He was committed to stand trial since March 3, 2012.

The report is due in Court on Friday, February 18 at 09:00 hrs.
During the Berbice Assizes, commonly referred as the criminal law term, in 2014, Justice Diana Inshanally observed that the accused was not mentally stable. The judge had ordered the initial evaluation.

During the court hearings in 2014, Mohanlall was overheard saying from the prisoner’s dock of the courtroom: “No, Magistrate! No lawyer was not at seat the time of the incident.”
This newspaper reported his outburst then in the courtroom: “Dem nah know nothing. Was me and them two alone,” Mohanlall reportedly said in the court, referring to the now-deceased victims.

“Only the cloud and the stars can say what happen,” he had declared.

Added to the 2014 recommendation for a mental health evaluation, a similar request was made by Justice Brassington Reynolds who presided over the matter in 2018.
Justice Reynolds was informed by prison officer Twain Hemmerding, that the accused “would go and come,” referring to Mohanlall’s mental health.

The officer proffered that Mohanlall should be referred to the National Psychiatric Hospital.

Justice Reynolds had noted that while Mohanlall could not be imprisoned indefinitely, he was not advocating that the accused be released.
The judge asked instead for a prognosis on the likelihood that the accused was fit to stand trial.

This newspaper reported in 2015 that Mohanlall was vocal in calling for an early trial during the criminal law term. His matter was listed in the Official Gazette for the 2020 Berbice Assizes.
In 2011, Mohanlall was charged with setting two persons on fire in a boat just off the Albion foreshore. The victims were 45-year-old Motee Lall, and 15-year-old Reynard Fernandes, also known as ‘Renee.’