I killed boy while in spirits' - Jericho man

MBABANE- A Jericho sect member shocked many at the High Court yesterday when he alleged that he could not recall why he chopped a six-year-old boy to death because he was in ‘spirits’.

This is in the case where Sifiso Mavuso allegedly brutally murdered Zigizendoda Mavuso by chopping him with a bush knife while in a forest where the child had been playing with others.
The child was killed in 2005 but the trial only resumed yesterday before High Court Judge Bheki Maphalala.
The High Court was thrown into a state of confusion when the accused was asked what his plea was in the murder charge he faced.

Mavuso simply said he did not remember committing any offence because he was in the spirit. He told the judge that he was a member of the Jericho church and he was in prayer at the time.
He said he was thereafter told that he had killed a boy.

The accused had been declared fit to stand trial for the offence he committed.
Two medical reports which were recorded on June 21, 2005 and another one which was recorded on September 21, 2009 both state that the accused can stand trial. These reports together with the post mortem report were presented as part of the evidence by the crown.

The first report was made to the Nhlangano magistrate and it states that the accused had been a regular at the psychiatric centre since 2003. It states that he had the habit of being violent and aggressive as a result of cannabis. Mavuso alleged that he experienced hallucinations in which a voice told him to finish off a boy he once injured whilst chopping wood. The second report which was made to the Registrar of the High Court states that the accused had a mental disorder since 2003. It goes on to state that Mavuso is of a sound mind and is fit to stand trial.
This is how the case proceeded:
Judge:  How do you plead in the case that has been read to you?

Accused: I was praying in church and since 2003, I had been praying in the Jericho Church. I was taken to the psychiatric centre (ementali). I heard that I had some work to do. I don’t know what happened. I was told by the police that I had killed Zigi. I was at home and I have been in prison since 2005.
Judge: I accept that you are pleading not guilty to the charge.

 After a nine year old child had given her testimony, the defence accepted all the evidence from the crown and the judge delivered his judgement.
“You are to be detained at a criminal lunatic asylum whilst awaiting directions from His Majesty. You are to remain there until the king decides what is to be done to you,” Maphalala said.

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