A mentally ill woman who believed she was possessed by the spirit of Princess Diana when she killed and mutilated her housemate, will remain in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) where she is undergoing treatment.
Grace Miano (53) had been charged with the murder of Malawian man Limbani 'Robert' Mzoma (27) at Tudor Lawns, Foxrock, Dublin on November 1st, 2018.
She was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity by a unanimous jury verdict last month and on Monday appeared before Mr Justice Paul McDermott at the Central Criminal Court.
Elva Duffy BL for the prosecution told Mr Justice McDermott that a consultant psychiatrist at the CMH had recommended that Ms Miano remain in the hospital's care for ongoing treatment.
She said doctors had diagnosed Ms Miano with schizo-affective disorder, a mental illness. Ms Duffy outlined the report's findings that Ms Miano has made progress and has insight into her illness but is at risk of relapse due to her condition.
She is undergoing medical treatment and therapy provided by a multi-disciplinary team at the hospital.
Mr Justice McDermott committed Ms Miano to the CMH under the provisions of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 to continue her treatment.
Medical opinions
Ms Miano's defence counsel, Michael Bowman SC, told the jury that Ms Miano on occasion “believed she was effectively possessed by Princess Diana, who came to tell her what she had done. She was not in her right mind, and claims that the day after [the killing], Princess Diana told her she was the one who did it,” he said.
Counsel had said that the delusions were “as real as they could be to her” and added that the medical opinions were “all one way”.
The trial heard from consultant psychiatrists that Ms Miano told gardaí that she killed Mr Mzoma to "protect Prince William" and had cut off his genitals after death “to protect women”.
She also told psychiatrists that she had been inhabited by the spirits of Princess Diana and other British royals to stop a plot by Kate Middleton who was trying to put Prince William and Prince Harry in danger.
During the trial, former Detective Sergeant Colm Ó Giolláin told Mr Dwyer that two males had gone to the house at around 11pm on the night. They told gardaí that Ms Miano had said the deceased was in the sitting room.
Det Sgt Ó Giolláin said one of the males said that Ms Miano told him: “I put a drip in your friend, I'm a good doctor.”
Raise the alarm
Ms Miano then urged the male to go into the sitting room, where she said Mr Mzoma was in a “Halloween costume”.
A second male told the detective that he saw blood on her arm, that she was holding a knife and that she was speaking "gibberish".
The detective said the two men then left the house to raise the alarm and met a neighbour who was on his way to the house to ask that "chanting" noises be kept down.
Detective Sergeant Paul Curran told Mr Dwyer that photographs taken at the scene showed blood on the floor, door, fireplace, light-switch and ceiling of the sitting room and that an amount of “fleshy tissue” was also photographed in the kitchen sink.
Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told Ms Duffy, for the prosecution, that she conducted a post-mortem examination of Mr Mzoma at the Dublin City Mortuary on November 2nd, 2018. Dr Mulligan said that Mr Mzoma sustained 65 wounds comprised of stabbing injuries, blunt-force trauma, lacerations and abrasions.
Dr Mulligan said Mr Mzoma's cause of death was primarily due to a blunt-force trauma injury and a stabbing injury to the top and rear of the head, which caused a complex skull fracture and bleeding in the brain.
A contributory factor to Mr Mzoma's death was internal bleeding caused by broken ribs to the lower back, she said.
Two other stab wounds to the neck were also inflicted post-mortem, said Dr Mulligan.
Acute intoxication
Dr Mulligan said a toxicology report showed an alcohol/blood level was 259mg per 100ml of blood. She said that this was “not enough to cause unconsciousness” but was a “moderate to severe level of acute intoxication”.
Det Sgt Ó Giolláin said that Ms Miano was interviewed four times at Dun Laoghaire Garda Station in the course of the garda investigation.
The accused said in her interviews that she left the house when Mr Mzoma was sitting in a chair in the sitting room unconscious and that foam was coming out of his mouth. She said a number of other males were also in the house drinking, but she did not know how many.
Ms Miano told gardaí that when she returned to the house the men were still there and told her, pointing to an unmoving Mr Mzoma, “there is your abuser”. She told gardaí that the males ordered her to “finish off” the deceased as it was “the only way to be safe”.
“They said that 'if he wakes he will kill you',” she told gardaí.
