Court to decide on competency of doctors to provide Psychiatric reports
Two doctors who prepared, and one who signed off on a competency to stand trial report for a mental health patient, told the Serious Offences Court, under oath, that they are not trained psychiatrists.
The trio also admitted, under questioning from lawyer Grant Connell, that their training in psychiatry was extremely limited, with two saying that they were general practitioners and not licensed psychiatrists and the other doctor admitting that she had a PhD in psychology and was in fact not even a medical doctor.
The doctors, Dr. Alisa Alvis, Dr. Micheal Stowe and Dr. Franklyn Joseph were summoned to court on Thursday April 16, 2026 by Chief Magistrate Colin John, to explain what Connell, a few weeks before, described as similarities in all the competency reports that were coming out of the Mental Health Centre (MHC) in Glen.
Connell has taken up, pro bono, the case in which Belair resident Kesroy Williams, a psychiatric patient, is charged that on February 6, 2026, he had a prohibited weapon, a modified .32 firearm and three rounds of .32 ammunition at his home. This was the second time in about 18 months that Williams had appeared in court on a firearm charge.
He was jailed in December, 2024 after pleading guilty to possession of a .38 pistol and three rounds of .38 ammunition.
On Thursday, Dr. Stowe was first to take the stand. He told the court that he is attached to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) as a medical officer and he is general practitioner (GP) who had worked for a short time at the MHC, being transferred back to the MCMH on March 1 this year.
When asked by the chief magistrate what his credentials were as it relates to psychiatry, Dr. Stowe said he was currently doing a Masters in psychiatry and had done a two weeks psychiatry rotation as part of his GP training.
The chief magistrate also asked Dr. Stowe to tell the court what made him qualified to provide a competency report that could be accepted after which Dr. Stowe explained the intake process of patients sent to the MHC.
He said he was aware that Williams was diagnosed with schizophrenia but had “some form of other deficit” and testing needed to be done, but was not done. He said from his assessment, Williams understood the charges against him.
During cross examination from Connell, Dr. Stowe told the court that his training in psychiatry was limited to two weeks as an intern and whatever he picked up while at the MHC.
“…two weeks rotation? So, you’re using him (Williams) to try out…two weeks?” questioned Connell, while adding that Dr. Stowe’s current pursuit of a Masters degree in psychiatry means he was not qualified to write a psychiatric report as he was not a trained psychiatrist and that he had no way of knowing if Williams was competent or not by asking him a few questions.
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