THE High Court has ordered that a man from Mangwe District who callously killed his elderly parents before torching their village mansion with a petrol bomb, be taken for psychiatric evaluation when he briefly appeared in court yesterday.
Lisani Marcellus Nleya (46) made headlines in 2020 when he allegedly killed his father Nicholas Cain Nleya (83) and mother Margret Nleya (78) who were both retired teachers and prominent villagers in grisly circumstances on September 1, 2020.
He is facing two counts of murder and is denying the charges.When Nleya took to the witness stand yesterday to give his testimony, Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Christopher Dube-Banda was forced to adjourn the proceedings and immediately summoned both the State and the defence counsel to his chambers.
This was after Nleya gave incoherent responses under cross-examination prompting the judge to have misgivings about the accused’s state of mind.
The State produced three conflicted medical reports which were done to evaluate Nleya’s state of mind. Two of reports indicated Nleya was of sound mind while one was disagreeing.
The prosecutor, Mr Blessing Gundani said after the first two conflicting medical reports, which were compiled on May 5 and May 7 in 2021, the accused should have been referred to a psychiatrist instead of another medical doctor.
Nleya’s lawyer, Mr Simbarashe Innocent Madzivire of Tanaka Law Chambers concurred with the State on the need for the specialist evaluation.
Justice Dube-Banda ruled that Nleya should be taken to a psychiatrist for mental evaluation.
“The state made submissions that the accused person was evaluated by three medical doctors. Two medical practitioners said the accused was fit to stand trial while one said the accused was not mentally fit,” he said.
The judge said in the event that two medical doctors make conflicting decisions, the matter was supposed was to be referred to a psychiatrist.
“The accused person should be mentally examined by a psychiatrist,” ruled Justice Dube-Banda.
In his disjointed testimony, Nleya alleged that his father joined an occult and conducted rituals which helped him boost his herd of cattle.“My father used to stay with my grandmother and they used to do rituals and had a black ox that used to be given better treatment than me. My father had sangoma regalia, clay pots and traditional drums,” he said.
Mr Gundani said Nleya allegedly committed the murder on the night of 1 September in 2020.
“The accused is the last-born son of the deceased couple and he believed that the two were bewitching him since childhood. The accused confronted the two deceased and other family members on several occasions seeking audience without success,” he said.
Mr Gundani said Nleya planned the murder while in South Africa where he was based.
“On 1 September the accused person entered the country and registered an Econet line using his national identity card particulars while in Bulawayo. The accused person later proceeded to the deceased’s homestead during the night armed with a machete, kitchen knife and some home-made petrol bombs,” he said.
The court heard that Nleya broke the couple’s bedroom window to gain entry and thereafter allegedly murdered the two as his mother pleaded with him to spare their lives.
After the murder, Nleya allegedly torched the room using the homemade petrol bombs resulting in the deceased’s bodies being burnt beyond recognition.
Weapons used in the murder were found at the house he was lodging in Emakhandeni suburb in Bulawayo. Part of the recovered weapons include a kitchen knife wrapped in a parcel wrapper, one machete, one home-made petrol bomb, one balaclava and the accused’s national identity document. – The Chronicle
