Durban — To establish if he is fit to stand trial in connection with a murder and four counts of rape, a 36-year-old man from uMlazi has undergone psychiatric observation at Fort Napier Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
Fort Napier Hospital is categorised as a specialised hospital serving only mentally challenged clients. Awaiting-trial prisoners are assessed by specialist doctors for not more than 30 days. The man was admitted on December 1.
The man appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, where the case was adjourned to February because the report from Fort Napier Hospital was outstanding.
He is alleged to have killed Princess Makey Mthethwa near the KwaNyuswa Reserve on May 12 last year. He is also charged with sexual assault as well as assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
In the first count of rape, which is alleged to have taken place in 2013 in KwaNyuswa, the man is alleged to have unlawfully and intentionally committed an act of sexual penetration with a 12-year-old, related to Mthethwa, “by inserting his finger into her genital organ”.
He is alleged to have repeated this again on diverse occasions in 2015 when the 12-year-old was 15 years old. This is his second count of rape.
Last year, when the girl was 18 years old, on the same day Mthethwa was murdered, the man is alleged to have again inserted his finger into the genital organ of the 18-year-old.
Further, on the same day, the man is alleged to have rubbed “his genital organ on the genital organ of the 18-year-old and or between her thighs”. He is alleged to have done this more than once.
In the other count of rape, which according to the State took place on the day of Mthethwa’s murder, the accused is alleged to have raped another teen, 15, related to the deceased.
The State’s facts in the matter were that the man allegedly “hit and punched the 15-year-old all over her body trying to stab her with a knife, cutting her on the stomach”.
According to a report from RK Khan Hospital, part of court records, the man’s grandfather was a known psychiatric patient on treatment.
“Recent memory is intact (short term). Long-term memory appears to be poor. Admits to auditory and visual hallucinations. Impaired judgement and poor insight. He, therefore, needs a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and is currently not fit to stand trial,” read the report.
Daily News