Man accused of murdering his twins 'is a suicide risk'

The Spanish dad who is accused of murdering his twins in Hout Bay in Cape Town last week is a suicide threat‚ according to his lawyer.

Mario-Ceasar Deus Yela was arrested on April 7 and appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday‚ just hours after he was discharged from Victoria Hospital.

He had been treated for serious abdominal injuries‚ his lawyer William Booth said.

Booth told TimesLIVE that Deus Yela is in a ''delicate emotional state''. This was determined by Professor Tuviah Zabow‚ a psychiatrist appointed by the defence.

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Zabow also indicated that the 48-year-old man is a ''suicide risk''‚ said Booth‚ who asked the court not to send him to Pollsmoor prison but back to hospital.

According to the state‚ Deus Yela had called his ex-wife to the apartment he had been renting in Hout Bay. He told her that he had murdered the three-year-old twins.

But Booth said: "Because I don't have evidence or statements in the police docket yet‚ I did not believe it was appropriate to address the court on these allegations.''

He told TimesLIVE that the man is ''extremely depressed'' but is receiving the necessary assistance from the Spanish embassy.

"I am also in contact with his brother in Barcelona…[Deus Yela] comes from a good family in Spain‚'' said Booth.

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Booth said he is a medical doctor. Before he got divorced from his wife‚ she moved to South Africa with their son.

Their twins were born here and he often visited them in South Africa and they have been abroad to see him.

While the magistrate refused to have him returned to the hospital‚ she ordered that he should be held at the hospital section of Pollsmoor.

"She ordered that Professor Zabow and I could have access to him at any time‚'' said Booth‚ who refused to elaborate on the abdominal injuries he had sustained.