Jamaica Gleaner
Published: Tuesday | December 2, 2008
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Killancholly murder trial nears close
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The Crown is expected to close its case today at the trial of 35-year-old security guard Jeffrey Perry, who is charged with the murder of three children at Killancholly, St Mary, in January 2005.

Psychologist Dr Kai Morgan testified on Friday and yesterday that she conducted tests on Perry on three occasions this year. She said Perry told her that since 2006, he had been hearing voices. She said the condition was known as auditory hallucination.

Morgan said Perry told her that he was not having the hallucinations in 2005 or prior to that time.

Stabbed in sleep

Prosecutors Lisa Palmer-Hamilton and Melissa Simms have led evidence at the trial that the children were fatally stabbed between January 27 and 28, 2005, at their home in Killancholly.

Perry gave a caution statement to the police on February 8, 2005 in which he said voices told him to kill. In the statement, he admitted entering the house through a window. He said he stabbed the children, who were sleeping.

Morgan said she carried out the tests in May and June this year and Perry told her he would sometimes hear voices calling him names for what he had done. She said Perry did not indicate to her that the voice told him to commit the murders.

Not insanity

Morgan said she diagnosed Perry as having obsessive compulsive disorder, but that did not mean he was insane.

Psychiatrist Dr Terrence Bernard said he examined Perry twice in 2006 and found that Perry had a personality disorder which con-sisted of psychosexual problems, but it did not mean he was insane.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Linton Walters, he said obsessive compulsive disorder was a mental illness. He said the disorder might involve hurting oneself or others.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com

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