KINGSTOWN – A 22-year-old former model has been sent back to a mental institution here while a magistrate decides on the arguments presented in court Monday regarding the court’s acceptance of a report from the psychiatric hospital.
Yugge Farrell, who has been at the Mental Health Centre for the past two weeks, has been charged with using abusive language to the wife of Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, on January 4.
When she appeared before Magistrate Bertie Pompey, on January 5, Farrell, was ordered to undergo two weeks of psychiatric evaluation at the Mental Health Centre.
The prosecution had made the application for psychiatric evaluation after Farrell pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Pompey’s decision to grant the prosecution request in the absence of supporting argument has led to widespread debate about the functioning of the judiciary in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Since her hospitalisation, Farrell has made a number of allegations, including that she had been in a relationship with the 44-year-old minister, a father of one that ended in 2016.
The finance minister has remained mum about the allegation and Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has said that he has advised the minister, who is also his son, to delay comment and maintain a “dignified silence”. (CMC)
