Cape Town - A Western Cape High Court judge scolded a prosecutor on Tuesday for failing to provide psychological insight into the man who removed his victim's heart and allegedly ate it.
Judge Ashley Binns-Ward addressed prosecutor Jacqueline Sibiya after she called witnesses during the day in aggravation of Zimbabwean Andrew Chimboza's sentence.
The arresting officer, a forensic pathologist, and a Gugulethu resident described how 62-year-old Mbuyiselo Manona was killed in June, and what Chimboza did with his body.
Sibiya said the evidence was relevant because it showed Chimboza, 35, exceeded the boundaries of self-defence and inflicted gruesome injuries.
“How is the court supposed to consider a sentence without expert evidence into his behaviour?” asked Binns-Ward.
“In nearly 40 years, I have never been involved in a murder case where this has happened.”
He added that the State had not charged Chimboza with desecration of a corpse.
“Must I go and reach to the phone book to look for someone appropriate (to testify)?” he asked.
Sibiya said a clinical psychologist in Pretoria had contacted her with advice and indicated it might take a month to compile a report.
She had thought the evidence at hand was sufficient for a conviction and sentencing.
Binns-Ward said expert opinion in the case was essential.
Sentencing proceedings were postponed until Wednesday, when both parties were expected to propose a way forward.
Chimboza, who had a window-tinting business, on Monday pleaded guilty to killing Manona, as part of a plea agreement.
He stated in his plea explanation that he stabbed Manona to death at the home of a former client last year, after a disagreement. He said he was sorry for what he had done.
He alleged Manona attacked him with a knife. He retaliated by kicking him in the groin, stabbing him in the neck with a fork and then repeatedly stabbing him in the neck, chest, and abdomen with a knife.
Arresting officer, Constable Mlungisi Landule, testified that he found a bloodied Chimboza cupping a heart in his hands and eating it.
Gugulethu resident Lelethu Femela had testified about peeking through the window of the home and seeing Chimboza stabbing a man, eating his heart and then repeatedly biting into his neck.
Forensic pathologist, Dr Lekram Alli, said he received small pieces of the heart in a plastic bag, together with the body. He said the pieces were cut into blocks, not torn.
Chimboza's lawyer Yasmine Rajap on Tuesday denied he had eaten pieces of the heart.
Sapa