A MUTOKO man has been sent for a third psychiatric evaluation to establish his mental state after he killed his two-year-old son in cold blood.
Farai Nyamurenje, who appeared before High Court judge Justice Lucy Mungwari, will stay at Chikurubi Psychiatric Prison until results of an evaluation by government psychiatrists are availed.
According to court papers, on August 31, 2012, Nyamurenje of Katsamudanga village in Mutoko murdered his two-year-old son Tatenda in cold blood.
The court heard that on the fateful night, when his family had retired to bed, the accused returned home from a beer drink.
He went to the kitchen hut, where the deceased and his grandmother Estere Matinyanya Nyamurenje were asleep.
Nyamurenje demanded to take his son, but Estere refused saying it was too late at night.
He forcibly took his son with him to Nyanguruve River, where he suffocated him to death.
The accused then dug a shallow grave on the banks of the river and buried the deceased and later surrendered himself to the police.
Nyamurenje led the police to the shallow grave, where the body was exhumed and taken to hospital for a post-mortem.
Nyamurenje was indicted to the High Court three years later facing a charge of murder.
The trial encountered a setback when the accused appeared to be mentally unfit to stand trial and he was sent for psychiatric evaluation.
Two doctors indicated that the accused may have been attempting to simulate psychotic symptoms.
On November 17, 2015, another psychiatrist, however, stated that Nyamurenje had no signs of mental illness.
In 2021, he wrote a letter requesting trial after a prolonged period without being taken to court.
In 2023 he was brought before Justice Mungwari on a murder charge.
Nyamurenje denied the charge, stating that he did not recall the events of the day.
He said he had endured nearly 12 years of pre-trial detention and had mistakenly believed he was serving a sentence for his child’s death.
During trial, his mother said Nyamurenje exhibited signs of mental disorder from a young age.
Justice Mungwari ordered him to undergo another psychiatric evaluation.
“In the interest of justice, we direct that there be an additional psychiatric evaluation conducted by another psychiatrist to determine the accused’s mental state at the time he killed the deceased,” Justice Mungwari ordered.
“As such, it is directed that the accused shall be returned to prison for transfer to Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit for examination and/or treatment in terms of section 29(2)(a) of the Mental Health Act.”
In an unrelated case, a 25-year-old Gokwe man believed to be mentally-challenged allegedly cut the throat of a one-year-old child in a suspected murder case.
Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko yesterday confirmed the incident which occurred on Sunday in Gokwe at around 11am.
“Thandiwe Bheura, a female aged 41 of Village Magazo under Chief Sai in Gokwe, was preparing food in the kitchen in the company of her grandson, Brilliant Mhike, aged one and half years.
“The suspect, Rutendo Shayanewako, who is Thandiwe’s brother-in-law, entered the kitchen and Thandiwe served him food before she proceeded to serve other family members outside the kitchen,” he said.
Mahoko said when Bheura returned, she found Shayanewako stabbing Brilliant with a kitchen knife on the throat.
He said she tried to stop him, but Shayanewako had already inflicted a deep cut on the child’s throat which led to the toddler bleeding profusely.
Mahoko said the child died before he could be taken to hospital.
He urged people with mentally ill relatives to keep them under medication and regularly take them to mental institutions for review.