A man accused of killing a toddler for muti claims he is mentally unstable .
Akhona Mgijima’s lawyer told the Athlone Court magistrate he will apply for the accused to be assessed at Valkenberg Mental Hospital.
The 20-year-old is accused of kidnapping and killing little Athenkosi Nkone, three, on October 7.
A bowl filled with blood and his little body with his throat cut was found packed in a suitcase in Mgijima’s shack.
Just before his arrest, Mgijima allegedly confessed to the boy’s father Sidney Mavata that he had killed Athenkosi for muti for his father, who is a sangoma.
On Monday, a neatly-dressed Mgijima looked cool and calm as he faced the boy’s family for the first time and angry Gugulethu residents shouted at him as he was being led back to the cells.
They say Mgijima is faking his illness.
“He is not mad, there’s no need to assess if he’s mentally stable,” Athenkosi’s uncle Andile Fundani, 49, said.
“When he killed the boy, he knew what he was doing.
“This makes me angry – the law is taking his side when he’s a murderer.”
Outside court, residents also complained that Mgijima looked “too good”.
“He even looks fat, and he shaved his head – it clearly shows how good the police treat him in jail,” one said.
The angry mob then headed to Phiophia Bashe’s home where Mgijima rented a room to burn it down for a third time.
“We blame her for Athenkosi’s murder because if she hadn’t denied seeing the boy, he could have been saved from Akhona,” an angry neighbour tells the Daily Voice.
The residents said they wanted to burn the house down because they don’t want anymore child murders in the area.
“Her grandson sleeps in that house and we don’t want to see anyone in that yard,” one person said.
“People are angry that the walls are still standing, they want to get rid of everything.”