Lloyd Simbarashe stands accused of killing his then-girlfriend, Nikita Lewis, by stabbing her 18 times in full view of shocked onlookers inside the Pick and Save Superette in Manenberg on October 9, 2015.
Simbarashe, speaking through a Shona interpreter, claims he has no memory of the alleged attack and claims that he is “mentally ill”.
“You must remember, I am still on medication for mentally ill people,” said Simbarashe, when pressed by State advocate Mbuleo Koti for details of the attack.
He also blames memory loss on the fact that he lived on the streets for a period towards the end of 2015 and had no access to the medication that would have kept him “stable”.