Mbombela - The Nelspruit Circuit of the High Court in Pretoria on Monday ordered that a man accused of raping and killing women be sent to Weskoppies Hospital for mental observation.
The 20-year-old from Mkhuhlu outside Hazyview has not been asked to plead and cannot be named until he has.
He faces 10 charges including rape, murder, housebreaking, arson, assault and robbery.
During his court appearance, Judge Lotter Wepener said prosecutor Kenneth Mashile and Francois Kriel for the defence had agreed that the accused be sent for observation.
“Such will be in the best interest and a correct step on the side of the State. I order that accused be removed to Weskoppies,” Wepener said.
He said all witnesses would be notified by the investigation officer when they would be called to come and testify, as it would not be on the postponement date of March 6.
The suspect is accused of raping and murdering Pethasi Mandlazi, 81, at her house in Mkhuhlu on September 10, 2012.
He is also accused of the rape and murder of pensioner Annah Hoyini, 78, who was killed at her house on the same day as Mandlazi.
In the third incident, he is accused of breaking into the house of a 58-year-old woman in Mkhuhlu on September 29, 2013, raping her and setting her house on fire.
He also faces another charge where a teenager, Wendy Mabunda, 16, was raped and murdered in Bushbuckridge on October 12, 2013.
The accused further faces a charge of robbery after another woman in Mkhuhlu was assaulted before being robbed of her laptop, two wristwatches, four pairs of earrings, a bracelet and a Nokia cellphone.
Sapa