THOHOYANDOU – THE Thohoyandou magistrate’s court granted an application by die state prosecutor, Mashudu Nekhumbe, on December 19 last year to send Ndivhuwo Ntsieni for psychiatric evaluation.
The University of Venda student is allegedly linked to four murders on and around the campus. He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, rape, attempted rape, robbery and kidnapping.
Ntsieni was accused of killing Tshililo Ndou (9), Zwivhuya Mashau (8), Livhuwani Mmbodi (22), and Brenda Ndovhe (45), a cleaner at the Univen campus.
At the time of his arrest, Ntsieni was found in possession of some of the victims’ belongings, including Ndovhe’s cell phone, and a hairpin that belonged to Mmbodi.
At his bail application hearing on December 19, Ntsieni said he could not explain his actions, as he did not know what came over him when he committed the crimes.
He claimed he was possessed by evil spirits and said he was initiated into satanism by a man who gave him R100. He explained that he started to wake up in the middle of the night with no control over his actions since his induction into satanism.
“I believe I might be possessed or used by witches to do strange things. Even now that I am in jail, I do strange things when I wake up in the middle of the night,” he said. He did not explain exactly how he behaved when he woke up during the night, only that he had no control over his actions and that his behaviour frightened his fellow prisoners.
Ntsieni said his mother’s health deteriorated due to the stress and asked that he be evaluated by a mental health professional after which Nekhumbe made the application for evaluation.
Ntsieni’s lawyer, Norman Ndou, asked magistrate Adriaan Geldenhuys to rule on the bail application immediately, but Geldenhuys agreed that Ntsieni should be sent for psychiatric evaluation.
He ordered that Ntsieni be evaluated at the Hayani Psychiatric Hospital to assess his fitness to stand trial.
The case was postponed to February 24.
