KILLER mother Theresa Riggi has again been ruled unfit to give evidence against a woman who is accused of slashing her with a razor blade in Scotland's only all-female prison.
The trial of Angela Hamilton, who is alleged to have disfigured Riggi for life, was postponed until next year, amid claims Riggi is not fit to give evidence in court.
Prosecutor Isobel Clark told Falkirk Sheriff Court that two doctors have confirmed Riggi is not fit to give evidence.
She asked for a further preliminary hearing to allow the Crown to get a report from the doctors concerned.
Defence agent Murray Aitken said he had not seen any medical reports and asked for his client's trial, originally set for later this month, to be adjourned. He said: "I haven't seen any reports, if they exist."
Sheriff Craig Caldwell agreed and adjourned the jury trial until January 13, extending the time-bar for the case until January 31.
Hamilton allegedly carried out the attack in Riggi's cell, at Cornton Vale Prison, near Stirling, on November 19, 2011.
Riggi, 49, originally from California, who is serving 16 years at the prison after admitting to stabbing her three children at their home in west Edinburgh, had to be rushed to hospital after the attack.
Hamilton, 40, currently a patient in a psychiatric ward at Leverndale Hospital in Glasgow, denies the attack.
Riggi killed eight-year-old twins Austin and Gianluca, and Cecilia, five, in August 2010, stabbing each eight times. She admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article