THE accused in the Durban High Court matter – described by the investigating officer (IO) as “a very unusual case” –  is alleged to have murdered and decapitated his 80-year-old grandmother.

According to the IO, he sang along to a radio tune as he was being transported to a psychiatric hospital, and then said he felt nothing and accused the deceased of failing to perform certain rituals, resulting in his disappointing life.

This was heard in court when the IO, Detective Sergeant Noelin Chetty of the Pinetown SAPS, took the witness stand on Friday, September 19, in the trial within a trial which arose after the defence previously objected to his testimony.

Chetty, who was accompanied by his partner, Detective Sergeant Sthabile Nolwazi “Sbhamu” Ngidi, with the accused in the back of the police vehicle, told the court that the accused in the matter, Thabo Ntokozo Theodore Nzimande (32), had said this en route to Fort Napier Hospital last year, where, as per a court order, he was to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

“He further stated that the voices told him ‘you know what to do’, then he kept quiet,” Chetty told the court.

Cross-examining Chetty, Nzimande’s defence attorney, Emmanuel Chiliza, put it to the witness that his client denies that he had said he was not a success in life because his deceased grandmother had failed to perform certain rituals for him, but agrees he had said voices had told him he knew what to do.

In response to Chiliza, Chetty said he had not asked Nzimande what he meant when he said that he felt nothing.

Also read: Alleged gran decapitator back in the dock

For the trial within a trial proceeding, Chiliza told the court that he will argue that despite testimony from Chetty and other officers that Nzimande had indicated that he was willing to talk soon after his arrest, the necessary arrangements for a commissioned officer or a magistrate to take down a confession were not made by the police and that now an unfairness was being suffered by the accused “because the court is not given a full picture”.

Chiliza further stated that he will argue that the court would be in a better position to assess the case had a confession been procedurally recorded by a commissioned officer or a magistrate as opposed to the couple of minutes long interview which the IO would tender as evidence.

During Chiliza’s cross-examination of Chetty, Senior State Advocate Nadira Moosa objected to the defence’s line of questioning and argument, and countered that this sought a speculative response from the witness because there was no confession before the court and Nzimande had not officially stated he wanted to make one.

Chetty testified that after his interview with Nzimande a day after the murder of Beata Beatrice de Lange on June 7, 2024, he communicated with his commander regarding what the accused had told him about the incident, to determine the steps that needed to be followed.

The court heard from Chetty that during the interview in police holding cells, Nzimande, who was still in bloodstained clothes that morning after the incident, spoke clearly, was calm, appeared to be of a normal state of mind and that he looked remorseful.

Nzimande has pleaded not guilty to the murder and has stated that on the night he had smoked cannabis and overdosed on prescription pills before passing out.

The matter was adjourned to December 8.

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