Lingala to get treatment at local hospital.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Bayapa Lingala, 77, an Indian man who allegedly stabbed his son-in-law to death at his 12-year-old granddaughter’s birthday party in August, in Lincoln, Nebraska, has been found to be incompetent to stand trial.
A Lancaster County judge found Bayala, who was visiting from Andhra Pradesh, India and staying with his daughter’s family in Lincoln, needed treatment at the Lincoln Regional Center, reported the Lincoln Journal-Star.
At a short hearing on Tuesday, Lingala sat quietly, a Telugu interpreter at his side, as Deputy Lancaster County Public Defender Webb Bancroft offered a four-page letter from Dr. Mario Scalora, who met with and examined Lingala.
It was the doctor’s opinion that Lingala isn’t able to understand the charges against him or to assist in his defense. Lingala is charged with second-degree murder and use of a knife in the slaying of 46-year-old Sujay Nooka.
Lingala has been at the county jail, his bond set at $1 million, since police arrested him August 5.
Bancroft said Scalora believed there was a “substantial likelihood” that his competency can be restored with treatment and that he could yet face trial, the Journal-Star reported.
A review hearing will be held in April. For the time being, Lingala’s criminal case is on hold.
The sensational case had caught national attention. In August, the deceased’s wife Uma Nooka, 44, a physician, told police she thought her father, Lingala, suffered from bipolar disorder and said he had been prescribed medication to treat paranoia.
Uma Nooka told police her father wanted to go home to India after living with her and her husband for at least nine years, Donahue said. She said she opposed his return because he couldn’t take care of himself anymore.
Police say Lingala stabbed Sujay Nooka at the end of a birthday party for the Nookas’ 12-year-old daughter on August. 5. He died about four and a half hours later at the hospital.
Sujay Nooka was a supply chain manager for Lincoln Industries and earned his master’s degree in engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
When police got to the house, they found Uma Nooka on the front steps with her husband, who was covered in blood, had trouble breathing and could not speak, said the Journal-Star report.
Police say she told officers her father stabbed her husband and was in his basement bedroom. The officers found Lingala writing a note in the basement. He did not obey officers when they told him to put his hands up. After they handcuffed Lingala, the officers found a meat cleaver and a knife with a bloody 8-inch blade.
Sujay Nooka’s father, 76-year-old Laksami Nooka, told police he was walking toward Lingala’s bedroom in the basement and saw him stab Sujay once in the upper left chest. He pushed Lingala away from Sujay and helped his son out of the room and upstairs.