his wife last December by the side of a highway has been deemed mentally competent to stand trial.
According to Prosecutor Brian Nitschke, witnesses allegedly “saw a man standing with both arms raised over his head holding a block of wood … in a striking fashion” before using it to hit a cowering woman in the head.
Later identified as Ravan-bakhsh Kakavand, witnesses say he struck his wife about eight times on the side of a road near Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia. She suffered a fractured skull and other non-fatal injuries.
In November, the court heard that Kakavand, who was held as a political prisoner in Iran in 1993, suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and thought his wife was the “secret police.” Kakavand did not know he was hitting his wife with the three-foot long piece of wood, his attorneys said.
Last week, Justice Trish Kelly of the Supreme Court in Australia found Kakavand was mentally competent and understood what was happening.
Kakavand is charged with aggravated assault causing serious harm with intent. The main question for the trial is Kakavand’s intent during the crime. His wife has not spoken in public about the beating.
