Waiting list delays Mapisa-Nqakula’s son's case
The man accused of murdering Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s son Chumani is 113th on the list to be admitted to a mental institution.
|||Johannesburg - The man accused of murdering Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s son Chumani is 113th on the list to be admitted to a mental institution.
The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court had ordered that Carlos Higuera be sent to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital about six months ago.
On Tuesday, the court heard that the backlog at the facility was caused by three outbreaks of chicken pox since December and that the quarantine was lifted only about three weeks ago. This has resulted in Higuera moving just 18 spots on the admission list since he last appeared in court in March.
The State told the court that its request for Higuera to be pushed up on the list was denied as the facility said that no patient could receive preferential treatment, regardless of the circumstances.
Higuera’s lawyer, Jabulani Maluleke, expressed his frustration at the slow pace in which the list was moving. His client has been waiting for a spot at the institution since November.
“If we move at this pace, I believe that next year this time we will still be where we are,” he said.
“We can’t carry on like this.”
He argued that other inmates had been given preferential treatment and that there was prejudice against his client.
The lawyer requested that the matter be struck off the roll and Higuera be released until it was his turn to be admitted to Sterkfontein.
He said that the State could then reinstate the charges.
But magistrate Albertus Roux rejected the appeal, saying it would be irresponsible because Higuera faced a serious charge.
“It’s unfortunate and we are all frustrated at the slow progress, but there are only some things that we can control,†he said.
He postponed the case to July 19.
Higuera, who allegedly fatally stabbed Chumani after a scuffle between the pair at a house in Bezuidenhout Valley, Joburg, in October last year, has been in custody since his arrest that same month.
Maluleke had told the court that his client was too mentally unstable to stand trial.
This argument was corroborated by Higuera’s father George, who testified that Higuera had been diagnosed with schizophrenia after the death of his mother and his girlfriend in 2010.
George added that his son had told doctors that he “heard voices in his head which would tell him what to do” and that his medication was altered a few days before the fatal attack on Chumani.
Chumani’s father is Charles Nqakula, a former minister of defence and the current South African high commissioner to Mozambique.
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The Star