Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Calvin Barry, Toronto

Makhniashvili's dad interrupts hearing to say guilty pleas were pressured

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press: Tuesday, July 26, 2011

TORONTO - The father of a missing young woman told a Toronto court Tuesday he was pressured and blackmailed into admitting he stabbed three people in two separate incidents last year.

Vakhtang Makhniashvili, 51, made the accusations from the prisoner's box in a series of outbursts that interrupted and eventually cut short his sentencing hearing.

Looking agitated, he stood up several times throughout the hearing to contest his guilty pleas and said he was given drugs without his consent while in custody.

"My plea was made under threat and blackmail," he said while his wife watched, stunned, in the courtroom.

The Georgian immigrant also tried to fire his lawyer, though he later changed his mind.

The Makhniashvili family had only been in Toronto for three months when their daughter Mariam, then 17, disappeared in September 2009.

Police have said there was no evidence to suggest that she had been abducted, that she was depressed or suicidal, that she ran away or that she fell victim to an accident.

Makhniashvili pleaded guilty in May to three counts of aggravated assault. Court was told at the time that he thought the victims were either involved in his daughter's disappearance or behind an unflattering newspaper article.

Justice Rebecca Rutherford broke off Tuesday's hearing to give defence lawyer Calvin Barry time to address his client's concerns and ensure his pleas were "free and voluntary."

"At this stage, I can't see how I can proceed any further," the judge said.

Makhniashvili is due back in court Thursday to explain how he wants to proceed and whether he intends to keep his lawyer.

His apparent change of heart doesn't guarantee the court will strike down his guilty pleas, though that is a possibility, Rutherford said.

It would mean taking the matter to trial, a much lengthier process. Makhniashvili has already expressed his desire to get the case resolved quickly.

Crown attorney John Cisorio argued "the pleas are legitimate pleas" and shouldn't be revoked unless new information takes the case in a different direction.

Barry said he didn't know what prompted Makhniashvili's courtroom declarations, but noted his client has been under constant stress since his daughter vanished.

"It was just spontaneous," he told reporters outside court. "He said what he said and I can't really go any further than that."

Earlier in the day, court heard a psychiatric report found Makhniashvili has a "major mental illness" but couldn't diagnose a specific condition.

The defence said it would seek further evaluation by a psychologist.

Makhniashvili admitted stabbing two people in front of their home last November. The victims had posted his bail after he was charged with stabbing a neighbour at his apartment building in May 2010.

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http://www.globalnational.com/Sentencing+hearing+Vakhtang+Makhniashvili+takes+dramatic+twist/5161346/story.html

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