Blagoevgrad District Court has appointed an extended comprehensive forensic psychiatric and psychological expertise to clarify whether Sandana resident Kristina Duncheva, accused of the brutal murder of her two minor children, is mentally well, can participate in the trial and be held criminally liable, Struma reports. bg.
At today’s court hearing, 4 experts were heard and the complex forensic psychiatric and psychological expertise prepared by them was accepted, according to which the defendant is mentally stable and can bear responsibility. That Christina “has developed and preserved mental fitness, and can fully participate in the phases of the criminal process and can be held criminally liable,” was the conclusion of the experts who prepared a comprehensive forensic psychiatric and psychological expertise in the pre-trial phase.
According to them, at the time of the crime Duncheva was not in a state of physiological affect. She does not have a mental illness or anything other than a personality disorder – an emotionally unstable person.
It is not a mental illness and cannot be equated with a prolonged disorder of consciousness within the meaning of the Penal Code. There is no medical precondition for the application of coercive medical measures against the accused, according to the state prosecution.
Today it turned out that there are experts who, however, believe that the defendant is not mentally well. In order to clear up the contradictions between the experts, today the five-member court panel allowed a new extended expertise to be performed by 5 experts. The case is being heard behind closed doors.
The first administrative hearing was held on February 4, on the birthday of Kristina Duncheva, who then fainted in the courtroom and had to call a team from the Emergency Center. After the examination performed by Dr. Rabadajiiski, it became clear that there was no danger to the life of the accused and the case could continue.
Christina had told the court that she did not understand what was happening, what was being discussed at the hearing and that “voices were speaking to her” and that she was drinking three types of sedatives. She is being held in the psychiatric ward of the Lovech Prison Hospital, where her defense insists she stay because she is unstable and needs medical attention, and the Sliven prison where she can be transferred does not offer such conditions.
During the pretrial hearing, a civil lawsuit was filed by her husband Georgi Traikov for payment of blood money in the amount of BGN 350,000 each for their two killed children Vasil and Yvonne.
Subsequently, due to the dismissal of a juror, a new pretrial hearing was held on March 11, in which a complex forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological examination was appointed to establish the defendant’s current health and ability to participate in court hearings, which was accepted by the court yesterday.
29 witnesses are to be questioned in the case, and Duncheva’s defense wants to question nine more. The Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor’s Office brought 33-year-old Kristina Duncheva to court on charges of murdering her own two minor children.
We remind you that Duncheva lived on a family basis with Georgi Traikov in an apartment in Sandanski. From their relationship in 2015 their son Vasil was born and two years later – in 2017, their daughter Yvonne. On November 19, 2020, while at home with her children, Duncheva took out three household knives from a cupboard in the kitchen. She took one of them and headed for the children.
She first punched him in the neck of her 5-year-old son and then her 3-year-old daughter. Despite the cries of the children, who were crying out in pain and terror, she took them to the nursery and continued to stab them many times. More than 30 stab wounds were inflicted on each of the children, mostly on the neck and chest, according to the forensic examination.
Duncheva’s family and her lawyer claimed that Kristina had been raped for years by Georgi and his father – mentally, physically and sexually. The next hearing is scheduled for July 11, and the results of the expanded comprehensive examination of the defendant’s mental state will make it clear whether the case will continue.
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