The Cairns mother accused of murdering seven of her children and a niece will be assessed by psychiatrists and may have her case heard in a mental health court.
Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday, also known as Mersane Warria, 37, is facing eight counts of murder after the bodies of the four boys and four girls were discovered in a home in the suburb of Manoora on Friday.
Her lawyer, Steve MacFarlane, says his client is still coming to terms with what happened.
“I think she probably knows what happened but doesn’t realise it and it hasn’t sunk in,” he told reporters on Monday after the case was mentioned briefly in the Cairns Magistrates Court.
“I’ve spoken to her and she’s coping the best that she can at the moment.”
MacFarlane said police had served the woman with an involuntary treatment order but she was yet to be assessed by psychiatrists.
“So once she gets assessed then it may go to the mental health court at that stage,” he said.
MacFarlane said it would be some time before his client was released from the Cairns Base Hospital where she is recovering from stab wounds.
Thaiday was formally excused from appearing at Monday’s hearing.
Magistrate Alan Comans refused a request from MacFarlane for the next hearing be held in a mental health court.
The case was adjourned until January 30.
Vigils and memorials for the slain children, who ranged in age from two to 14, were held throughout Queensland at the weekend.
More services are expected to be held in Cairns on Monday night.
Relatives, Manoora residents and strangers continue to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial set up just metres from the house where the children were found dead.
Meanwhile, a grandfather at the centre of the tragedy has reached out to others mourning the alleged murders.
“It’s a horrific situation that has happened but God is here to set you free,” Pastor Lifu Sipi told a packed memorial service on Sunday night at Trinity Bay State High School in Cairns.
“Only God can give us the rest that we need,” said the pastor who told AAP he is the grandfather to the seven younger children.
Just last week a 14-year-old girl, the eldest of the eight children found dead at a house on Murray Street in Manoora on Friday, farewelled her friends as the school year came to an end.
On Sunday night many of her friends and some relatives of the seven other children who died gathered at the school to comfort one another and try and come to terms with the horrific tragedy.
Among the crowd was the father of some of the younger children. Earlier on Sunday he had cried out “my babies, my babies!” and collapsed at a makeshift memorial for the children just metres from the house where they were found dead.
When asked if he had a message for those grieving, Pastor Sipi recited a verse from the bible.
“Here though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil and I shall dwell on the house of the Lord forever and be at rest,” he told AAP.
Others who spoke at the memorial told those present to support one another, to not lose faith in God and reach out if they needed help.
Tears flowed, mothers held their children close and friends held hands as beautiful words of hope and love sung by gospel singers drifted across the mourners.
At the front of the crowd candles flickered, moving shadows across eight knitted teddy bears – one for each of the children taken too soon.
Other services have been held in Townsville, Brisbane, Cairns and the Torres Strait Islands, where the family are from, over the weekend.
– AAP
