Nurse Mary’s murder: Psychological assessment to be done on her daughter

A psychological assessment is to be done on Olivia Grace – the child of murdered Flipino nurse working at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), Mary Grace Oned Pineda and her husband Marvin S. Y. Vargas, who has been charged with her murder.

Marvin - also working as a nurse in IGMH was arrested on October 27, 2021, and has now been remanded till the end of his trial.

The Prosecutor General's Office has charged him with murder with the intent to kill on January 4. He is accused of injuring Mary’s head and neck and strangling her to death at her apartment on the first floor of Ma. Udhuheykokaage in Male’ City on the afternoon of October 19, 2021. 

It has been determined that the child was present in the house at the time of the murder. Hence, in order to find out whether the child witnessed any of the incidents, an assessment is to be done.

During the court hearing held, the defence had not responded to the charges as the state had not yet provided some relevant documentation.

The defence noted that they can only respond once all the documents are received.

One of the documents referred to is the psychological assessment report on Olivia.

The state revealed that the delays in obtaining the report were due to the child currently being in the Philippines.

The lawyer from the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the report was extremely relevant as Marvin had confirmed Olivia was present in a room of the apartment at the time of the murder. Hence, it was needed to determine whether the child was exposed to any of the incidents.

Responding to this, Abdulla Shaairu, the lawyer representing Lamha - who was also charged in connection to the murder - expressed concern over the fact that such an important report was not completed while the child was still in Maldives, and added there were capable psychologists in the country to compile it.

The state is unable to give a date on when the report will be received as currently, it is being prepared by authorities in the Philippines.

Lamha, who was having an affair with Marvin was arrested on December 16, 2021, and was later charged in connection and is remanded till the end of her trial.

She is accused of co-conspiring with Marvin to murder Mary, and assisting in and facilitating her murder. She faces a minimum of 6 years in prison if convicted of the charge.

Moreover, she is charged with knowingly taking unauthorized control over the property of another after the police found two injections from IGMH which she had not been authorized to take out of the hospital hidden in an envelope in her bedroom, and carrying out an activity that requires permission from an authority, without obtaining permission from the relevant authority after police found a type of drug issued only for the use of hospitals and health facilities during a search of her bedroom.

The death of Mary on October 19 was initially reported by Marvin as a case of suicide by hanging.

Her dead body was taken to the hospital by her husband, Marvin, not too long after she left work and had gone home for a break whilst on duty.

According to a credible source, Marvin initially told the hospital staff that his wife committed suicide by hanging herself, and then later changed his story and said that she suddenly collapsed.    

The police found the death suspicious and opened an investigation into the case. 

Marvin was arrested in connection to death on October 27.

After conducting an autopsy on Mary’s body, the Police announced that they do not believe Mary died of suicide by hanging and that the postmortem examination revealed the cause of death to be blunt injuries. 

Lamha was arrested under a court order on December 16.

Lamha admitted to her affair with Marvin in an interview with Sun last year. She claimed they ended their relationship a day before Mary’s death but decided to resume their relationship following Mary’s death.