A psychiatrist and a psychologist separately concluded that the man accused of a murder committed 35 years ago was not mentally fit to answer to the charges brought against him or stand trial.

Carmelo Camilleri is due to go on trial for the 1988 murder of Baron Frank Sant Cassia.

Presiding judge Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera has now scheduled a sitting in May to hear psychiatrist Joe Cassar testify about his conclusions.

Psychiatrist Anton Grech and psychologist Kristina Bettenzana testified on Thursday about their reports which established that Camilleri was suffering from significant cognitive impairment as a result of a neurodegenerative condition such as vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease.

He was also found to be suffering from anxiety, unable to read or write and have impaired factual and long-term memory.

“He is not capable of understanding and answering questions about concepts which are not simple, and is vulnerable to manipulation,” concluded Prof. Grech’s report.

Dr. Bettenzana’s conclusion was similar: “Mr. Camilleri is NOT malingering. This means he is not exaggerating his symptoms of memory loss.”

Camilleri’s lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta asked whether Mount Carmel Hospital was the right place for the defendant. Grech replied it was not and that if Camilleri had been his patient, he would not have been admitted there.

Camilleri is accused of fatally shooting Baron Sant Cassia at point-blank range on the grounds of his house, Castello Zammitello, in Mġarr in 1988.

He was charged with the wilful homicide of the baron in 2006, accused of carrying out the murder on the instructions of a third party.

His lawyers are insisting that Camilleri could not have formed the required criminal intent to be found guilty, arguing that although he was 33 years old at the time of the murder, a psychiatrist appointed by the court to assess him after his arrest had found Camilleri to have an IQ of around 50 and a mental age of between nine and 12 years old.