Shumirai Zhou
ZVISHAVANE – Kefas Mangena of Village Zvoi under Chief Mazvihwa is a free man after Gweru High Court Judge Justice Martin Makonese found that he was mentally unfit to stand trial for allegedly killing his two months-old daughter.
The State, as represented by Tafadzwa Mpariwa, reported that the accused was suffering a mental disorder at the time he committed the offence.
The court, in terms of section 29(2) of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12 was therefore obliged to release him.
It was alleged that on May 19, 2014, two-months-old Veronica Crushel Mangena was asleep in the bedroom when the accused entered and started head-butting the baby several times.
He also allegedly smashed her on the wall, smashed her down and threw her out of the room through the window and the baby died on the spot.
The accused’s wife Jestina Maphosa was doing laundry outside when she heard the baby crying and she went into the bedroom to attend to the baby and saw what Kefas was doing.
The accused was 19-years-old at the time he committed the crime and was then arrested.
On May 21, 2014, Dr S. Pesanai conducted a post mortem on the body of the baby which showed that the cause of death was extensive subarachnoid hemorrhage, skull fracture, blunt force trauma and assaults.
The accused person was examined by a psychiatrist Dr E. Poskot Chinova at Mlondolozi Special Institution on seven different occasions in 2014 and 2015 and it was discovered that he was suffering from a mental disorder by the time he committed the offense.
The doctor concluded that the accused should not be held legally responsible for his actions.
The accused admitted before the court that he was mentally-disturbed.local
