Court

Sentencing Delayed For Man Who Murdered Hero Chef
Fri 3rd March 2017, Yellow Advertiser

THE SENTENCING of a murderer has been delayed by up to two months after a report ordered by a judge was not produced.

The sentencing of Joram Bakumanya, 22 – who was convicted in December of murdering Basildon chef Daniel Mitchell-Monroe – had already been delayed by more than a month.

Mr Mitchell-Monroe, 37, from Vange, had come to the aid of his young niece on June 28 last year, as Bakumanya was threatening her because she would not give him her phone number.

The court heard Mr Mitchell-Monroe punched Bakumanya as he was ‘about to slap’ the young woman.

Bakumanya retaliated by beating Mr Mitchell-Monroe to the ground and stabbing him to death with a kitchen knife he had been carrying in his waistband.

Legal discussions held in open court during Bakumanya’s trial revealed his defence team had originally commissioned a psychological report on the killer to see if it could be used in his defence.

The report had concluded Bakumanya did not suffer from mental ill health to a great enough extent for it to form part of his defence.

Bakumanya sacked his defence team and disputed the report’s conclusions, saying it had failed to take into account the fact that he suffered from panic attacks.

He opted to defend himself and claim self-defence.

Bakumanya permitted Judge Patricia Lynch to assist him by asking him questions when he testified in his own defence – but he refused the judge access to the documents compiled by his former legal team, including the psychological profile.

After he was convicted, Judge Lynch said she was adjourning his sentence for six weeks – to the week beginning January 30 – so a new psychological report could be compiled.

The sentencing did not go ahead that week and was repeatedly delayed until last Friday, March 3.

However, when Judge Lynch came to sentence Bakumanya it was discovered that the psychological report had still not yet been compiled.

The sentencing has now been put back into a ‘warned list’, meaning it could be heard on any date in the two weeks beginning April 18.

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