A judge and a prosecutor said a hearing for a Somali woman accused of attacking a family with a flag pole was scheduled in error, but court documents show Aisha Ibrahim’s attorney is going to claim his client is not competent to stand trial.
A court order signed by Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Tom Davis and the court’s public schedule both showed Ibrahim was due in court Friday for a hearing on a bench warrant and a bond forfeiture hearing. However, when court started, Davis said the case had been added to the schedule in error and there would be no hearing.
According to the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office, a bond forfeiture hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31. Senior Assistant District Attorney Tom Williams said the Ibrahim would not be expected to appear for that hearing. Instead, the company that bonded her out following her May 2016 arrest will be pressed by the county to pay the full $7,200 bond set for Ibrahim. Williams said the law requires such a hearing be set during a specific time frame following a defendant’s disappearance, and that such a hearing could not be held before October.
Ibrahim is accused of attacking a Lawrenceville family on May 31, 2016, using the flag pole from the family’s mailbox as a weapon. Court documents also show that after the flag was taken from Ibrahim, she continued the attack using one of her shoe’s as a weapon. She also is charged with a felony for giving police a false name during her arrest.
Ibrahim missed several arraignment hearings earlier this year. Sometimes she offered excuses, but other times she simply did not show up. Davis finally tired of her missing court and issued a bench warrant for her arrest last month. Following that, Ibrahim’s attorney, Thomas S. Clegg filed a motion to set aside the bench warrant.
Clegg argued that his client is “not competent to stand trial and never will be” in the motion. He informed the court that he has received information his client is receiving mental health treatment in Atlanta’s Grady Hospital.
Clegg told the court in the motion that he has effectively lost contact with his client and does not expect to establish contact again if and when his client is released from the hospital.
Williams said the district attorney’s office is not equipped to look for fugitives, but that the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office is tasked with finding the fugitive defendant. He said the only way the bench warrant can be resolved is for Ibrahim to attend court and ask the judge to dismiss the warrant. He said if Ibrahim arrived at court, she would immediately be arrested unless the judge ordered otherwise.
Ibrahim, 31, is described as a refugee from Somalia.
