Sleepwalking to Jail
In a recent bizarre state of events, jurors did not believe a sleepwalking defense mounted by a man accused of breaking and entering. He was convicted of "house break-in with intent" in the town of Nevis on St. Kitts Island.
A gentlemen walked into his spare bedroom to find someone asleep under the bed his father was sleeping in. The accused denied being there but eventually was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 18 months in jail on top of the 18 months he had already served.
What is interesting to me was that there have been far more serious cases of sleep walking (the Sleepwalker Murder case. for instance) where the accused was found innocent due to a situation called REM Behavior Disorder. This is where people act out their dreams while in a REM state, which is a bit different than sleep walking. Both are treatable with a medication called Klonopin.
I cannot tell you if this person was sleepwalking or not when he entered a stranger's home and went to sleep under the bed, but it does seem highly unlikely that he would break in and then go to sleep.
Moral of the story: Put an alarm on your door next time you are in St. Kitts.
Related Topics: WebMD Video: Sleep Apnea, Personal Reporter: Answers About Sleep Problems
Technorati Tags: sleepwalking, REM Disorder
A gentlemen walked into his spare bedroom to find someone asleep under the bed his father was sleeping in. The accused denied being there but eventually was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 18 months in jail on top of the 18 months he had already served.
What is interesting to me was that there have been far more serious cases of sleep walking (the Sleepwalker Murder case. for instance) where the accused was found innocent due to a situation called REM Behavior Disorder. This is where people act out their dreams while in a REM state, which is a bit different than sleep walking. Both are treatable with a medication called Klonopin.
I cannot tell you if this person was sleepwalking or not when he entered a stranger's home and went to sleep under the bed, but it does seem highly unlikely that he would break in and then go to sleep.
Moral of the story: Put an alarm on your door next time you are in St. Kitts.
Related Topics: WebMD Video: Sleep Apnea, Personal Reporter: Answers About Sleep Problems
Technorati Tags: sleepwalking, REM Disorder
2 Comments:
Interesting! I am am from the island os St. Kitts...and there is NO town (in St. Kitts) called Nevis. There is an island closeby called Nevis. In fact the country is known as the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis.
It's always good to get the facts right especially when reporting such bizarre events...it may sound more believable.
As a mental health counselor in Fl., I have a client who during her sleepwalking does destructive things such as: turning on the burners on the stove, kicking in a louvered door, throwing a pitcher of iced tea on the floor. It is my understanding it is rather unusual that sleepwalkers do such harmful activities. Are there other reports of this?
Zona Mengel, LMHC, RN
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