Mother charged with murder awaits psychiatric review

Tamara Butler with daughter Bethany

(CNS): A mother accused of murdering her 6-year-old daughter last October has still not answered the charge against her as the court heard she is still awaiting a psychiatric evaluation regarding her ability to plead to the allegations and the question of diminished responsibility. Tamara Butler, who is alleged to have killed her daughter, Bethany, when she stabbed the child multiple times, is understood to be suffering from serious mental health issues but she has not yet had a formal assessment in relation to her state of mind over the murder.

Butler, who is represented by Laurence Aiolfi from Samson and McGrath, asked for a six-week adjournment for the case Friday as he said there were issues dealing with the bureaucracy of getting a psychiatrist on island. The lawyer said he had made an application to legal aid to cover the costs of registering that doctor locally in order to allow him to undertake the review of his client.

The mother was arrested and charged last October after her daughter’s body was found in Butler’s car on the Queen’s Highway in East End. She was remanded in custody to the women’s prison at Fairbanks where, despite her mental health issues she is currently being held.