Ugbogu testifies about ‘overpowering voices’

[unhappycamper]

Ugbogu testifies about ‘overpowering voices’
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, February1, 2009

YOKOHAMA, Japan — The U.S. Navy seaman accused of killing a Japanese taxi driver last spring talked Friday about the psychological problems he said have plagued him since he was a teenager growing up in Nigeria.

At his robbery-homicide trial in Yokohama District Court, Olatunbosun Ugbogu said he never told anyone — including the military — that he periodically hears voices, because he "feared they were going to kick me out."

Ugbogu, 22, claims "overpowering voices" commanded him to fatally stab 61-year-old Masaaki Takahashi in an alley in Yokosuka’s Shioiri neighborhood on March 19. Prosecutors say he killed the man to avoid paying a $195 cab fare. The sailor also is charged with illegal possession of a knife.

The daylong questioning by his defense attorney, Yasutoshi Murakami, was frequently grueling and arduous.

Ugbogu, again appearing tattered and emotionally distant, spoke in a low, drab tone throughout his testimony and gave short, vacant answers. His speech was slurred at times and the court translator told him to speak louder into the microphone on several occasions.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60370