Murder case stalled over suspect’s ability to answer charge

Waylon Rivers arriving at court

(CNS): The ability of Waylon Timothy Rivers (19), who is accused of killing his father, to answer the murder charge against him was in question on Friday. The case against the teenager has stalled as lawyers seek legal aid to finance the necessary neurological and fitness-to-plead examinations. Rivers, who suffers from mental health problems, is alleged to have attacked Timothy Rivers (66) in North Side in June, inflicting multiple wounds in the domestic tragedy in the Hutland area of the district not far from the family’s home.

Rivers appeared in Grand Court for the second time last week and was expected to enter a plea to the charge, but his defence attorney, Prathna Bodden, said that so far he has had just one mental health evaluation by a government specialist.

That evaluation concluded that he needed further examinations of his mental state and, more importantly, he needs to be assessed for his fitness to enter a plea or stand trial, something that his lawyer said should have happened much closer to the event, given that he is now being medicated.

With mental health evaluations for people in the criminal justice system backed up for months, Bodden said she would need to find a private psychiatrist to do the evaluations. To do that, she said, she would need to apply for legal aid to cover the costs. As a result, the court agreed to another adjournment of the case until the end of September in the hopes that Rivers can go through the necessary mental health tests before then.

In the meantime the teenager was remanded in custody to HMP Northward.