Court asked to re-admit Warona Zinde for further mental evaluation

Warona Zinde‚ 23‚ in the dock for allegedly killing his mother Hope‚ is possibly schizophrenic‚ the Brits Magistrate's Court has heard.

He needs to be re-admitted to the Weskoppies psychiatric hospital in Tshwane for further mental assessment‚ his defence lawyer Francois Joubert has told the court.

Joubert has launched a bid to dispute a state report that concluded that Zinde was mentally fit to stand trial.

This report was compiled by four psychiatrists at Weskoppies in September last year. Zinde was at the institution for about a month.

He was arrested on 11 June last year‚ after the lifeless body of his 50-year-old mother was found in the boot of her SUV at their Hartbeespoort‚ North West‚ home.

Hope‚ a former broadcast journalist and board member at the SABC‚ succumbed to head injuries allegedly inflicted with a heavy blunt object.

Joubert maintained from the onset that the four Weskoppies psychiatrists erred. On Wednesday he gave magistrate Lourens Matthiah an affidavit by Dr John Victor Weinkove‚ a private psychiatrist‚ that recommends further mental assessment of Zinde.

Weinkove's affidavit appears to argue the four Weskoppies psychiatrists omitted critical brain scans when they assessed Zinde.

Weinkove submitted in his affidavit that a CAT scan of the brain and an electroencephalogram (EEG) need to be conducted on Zinde.

The EEG is described as a test used to assess the electrical activity in the brain‚ while a CAT scan is a specialised X-ray test.

“I believe that Mr Zinde suffers from schizophrenia with predominantly negative features. I recommend that he be re-admitted to Weskoppies for review of his condition‚” said Weinkove in the affidavit Joubert read in court.

“In view of his loss of social and academic functioning I recommend that he have further investigation in the form of a CAT scan of the brain and an EEG‚ preferably over 24 hours.

“Dr [Emil] Kraeplin invoked the term dementia praecox for schizophrenia 100 years ago. Mr Zinde appears to support this view even though the term is no longer used‚” Weinkove added.

Weinkove said in his affidavit he interviewed Zinde at the Vereeniging holding cells on December 16. He said this interview was at the request of Zinde's family and Joubert.

Said Joubert in court: “It's our application and submission that the accused be referred back to Weskoppies to give effect to what Dr Weinkove is proposing.”

The state‚ through prosecutor Hanna Conradie‚ is opposing Joubert's application to have Zinde referred back to Weskoppies. The hearing continues on Wednesday afternoon.

TMG Digital/Sowetan