Woman axes 2 children to death

A 24-YEAR-OLD Beitbridge woman who fatally axed her two minor children has been referred to Mlondolozi Mental Health Centre after a psychiatrist report confirmed that she was mentally unstable.

Grace Ndou claimed she heard voices ordering her to kill the children, both aged two years old.

Ndou made the strange claim yesterday when she appeared before High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo. The court heard that the incident occurred on October 2, 2014.

Ndou's pro-deo lawyer Esther Sarimana submitted that her client was denying the charges and prayed for a special verdict in terms of Section 29 of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12.

"Accused will state that at the time of committing the offence, she did not know that what she was doing was wrong," Sarimana submitted. "Accused will further state that she suffers from a mental disorder and such disorder she had suffered from long before the offence was committed. She will state that she was and is still under medication for that disorder. The accused person had no appreciation of her conduct, her actions were influenced by her mental disorder."

She said the accused would further state that she had no intention of murdering her own children and all she remembers is hearing voices ordering her to kill them.

Justice Moyo conceded that Ndou suffered from mental illness and found her not guilty of murder by the reasons of mental illness. She therefore ruled that she be referred to Mlondolozi mental institution indicating that she was a dangerous person to live in society at the moment.

After committing the heinous crime, the court heard, Ndou proceeded to her brother Newsman Ndou and narrated to him what she had done, leading to her arrest.