Back to jail for k-word fraudster to await mental evaluation decision

The Verulam Magistrate's Court will on Tuesday rule on an application to send Kessie Nair for a 28-day mental evaluation at Fort Napier Hospital.

The application was brought by the state when Nair‚ who is accused of calling President Cyril Ramaphosa the k-word‚ intended to apply for bail last week.

Prosecutor Carlson Govender on Monday said the state was relying on an assessment by a district surgeon‚ who recommended an in-patient assessment‚ and Nair's brother who testified that he was mentally unstable.

However defence attorney Chris Gounden argued that the district surgeon was not qualified to assess Nair and that his brothers were "bitter siblings".

He argued that should the court rule in favour of a mental assessment‚ Nair would have to spend months in prison before a bed is available at Fort Napier.

Gounden said Nair was willing to pay for a private mental assessment with his own medical aid should he be granted bail.

Nair - who served six years in prison for corruption and claims to have once been a member of the notorious 26s prison gang - has been charged with seven counts of crimen injuria and two counts of incitement for his widely circulated racist rant on video and in social media posts.

In the video he calls for Ramaphosa to be charged for “defrauding this nation‚ for oppressing this nation‚ for high treason‚ for being the source [of] all crime and violence and poor healthcare and poverty in this so-called true democracy”.

In a written post‚ Nair says: “Let me go down in history‚ becoming the first and last man to called [sic] the number one citizen‚ the state president” the k-word.

“Achieved my goal‚ now I’m ready to die‚ for my intended message is public knowledge.

“Tuma Mena [sic] [to] Westville Prison‚” he added.