Mom, ex-girlfriend testify in Ugbogu case

[unhappycamper]

Mom, ex-girlfriend testify in Ugbogu case
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, January 16, 2009

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Olatunbosun Ugbogu, his mother and his former girlfriend all took the stand this week as the U.S. Navy seaman’s robbery-homicide trial resumed in Yokohama District Court.

The 22-year-old sailor again appeared detached Wednesday as he answered questions from his defense attorney, Yasutoshi Murakami. He was not cross-examined by prosecutors but told the court he takes medication three times a day to stop hallucinations.

Ugbogu, a Nigerian citizen, repeated earlier statements that he fatally stabbed 61-year-old taxi driver Masaaki Takahashi last spring in an alley in Yokosuka’s Shioiri neighborhood but was ordered to do it by "overpowering voices."

"I’ve never said ‘no’ to the voices," he said, describing them as a mix of 20 voices speaking simultaneously that sound like an echo. "I’m afraid of what they could do to me."

On March 19, Ugbogu was in his then-girlfriend’s apartment, in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, when the voices told him to grab a kitchen knife, take all his money — about $100 and 30,000 yen — go outside and stab someone, he testified. He said he had no concept of the consequences and could not distinguish right from wrong when he fell under their influence.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60030