Docs agree Webb insane but court to decide verdict

(CNS): Travis Webb (27), who was charged with attempted murder after he buried a 3-year-old child alive in a shallow grave in a family yard in November 2018, has been ruled insane by psychiatrists instructed by both the crown and the defence.

The case against Travis opened Wednesday but the court heard it is a technical hearing where the judge will hear all of the facts, medical reports, statement and other evidence to determine if, as both sides agree, Webb is not guilty by reason of insanity.

In this incredibly tragic case that had a miraculous outcome, with the toddler making a full recovery, doctors found that when Webb took the child from his bed and put him in the hole, he was suffering a serious schizophrenic episode that diminished his responsibility for his behaviour.

The tragedy unfolded in a Bodden Town yard in front of the toddler’s older brother, who was just five years old. But when another adult arrived at the home, the child immediately revealed that Webb had tried to bury the baby under a tree. This drove the family member into a hysterical frenzy and out of the home, taking the older boy with her to the nearby police station to raise the alarm.

An officer immediately placed the woman and child in the police car and sped to the yard, where he demanded that Webb say where the toddler was. Although Webb persisted in saying the child was sleeping, he eventually went to the hole and dug up the little boy, who appeared unconscious. But even though the child had been asphyxiated, he still had a weak pulse.

However, a fast emergency response and his quick arrival at hospital saved the little boy’s life and he has now made a full recovery.

Webb did not deny what happened, and when he was interviewed by the police he said he was not sure why he buried the child but believed it was an experiment, perhaps something he had seen on TV. He was also interviewed by mental health professionals, who all concluded this had been a serious psychotic episode.

In the evidence read to the court, several of Webb’s family members reported the increasingly strange and unpredictable behaviour of Webb in the months, and even the year, leading up to this horrible incident.

His own mother had called the police on numerous occasions but said they did nothing. She said it was not until a few months before Webb buried the child alive that she managed to secure any kind of appointment with a psychiatrist at the hospital. But it turned out Webb failed to attend.

Once the judge has all of the information relating to the case, it will be up to him to make the likely final decision that Webb is not guilty of the crime on the grounds of insanity. He will then need to make a hospital order, which is likely to cause significant problems for the authorities since there is no suitable institution to send someone like Webb anywhere in the Cayman Islands.

The likely outcome is that Webb, who was once a promising track athlete, will remain in HMP Northward on what would effectively be an indeterminate prison sentence. It is understood that although he is now medicated, Webb has not been receiving any of the extensive type of treatment and therapy required for someone suffering from this level of schizophrenia.