Warrant of arrest issued against �blood sucker�
Othusitse Khuwa | Thursday March 2, 2017 18:10
Police suspect the Jowa intended to kill the boy and drink his blood. The accused allegedly believed the boy was a witch, police have said.
After Jowa failed to appear in court yesterday, Sergeant Mbatshi told Basupi that he did not know the reasons for the absence and said the accused was aware of the court date. “The accused was granted bail last week. He knows that he was supposed to be in court today. We therefore apply for a warrant of arrest to be issued against him. The prosecution is still waiting for the accused’s psychiatric report. May another mention date be set,” said Mafa. At the end of the brief mention, Basupi set the matter for further mention on March 22 or as soon as Jowa is arrested.
Jowa was granted bail on condition that he signs in his own recognisance, reports to any police station on Fridays, does not interfere with state witnesses and attends court as and when required to do so.
Previously, Mafa told the court that he would be in a position to charge Jowa with an appropriate offence once his mental state is known. Harrowing details of the case came to the fore in court when Jowa initially appeared for arraignment.
At the time, Mafa stated that the crime was not as simple as common assault.
“There are allegations that the accused intended to kill his victim and then suck his blood.
“The investigations officer is yet to investigate more on those allegations. He has to find out if the accused was harbouring any malice towards the complainant. We also apply that the accused be taken for psychiatric evaluation to ascertain if he is suffering from any mental disease.”
The details emerged after Mafa applied for Jowa to be remanded in custody, to which the magistrate Basupi objected, saying common assault was not a serious matter.
Basupi also questioned whether the charge levelled against the accused was correct, saying common assault is an offence which in some cases involves an accused person slapping another person.
“In the current matter, the accused allegedly used a shovel to commit the offence and therefore what he allegedly did cannot be equated to common assault, but is a more serious offence,” Basupi said.
In response, Mafa revealed that the police had charged Jowa with common assault as a holding charge as investigations into the matter are still continuing. “The investigations will guide us to charge the accused with an appropriate charge once they are complete,” he said. The magistrate said the matter appeared both serious and strange.
“Allegations faced by the accused are in my view serious and strange. I say so because this is not a common occurrence in this jurisdiction. The matter seems to be the first of its kind in my jurisdiction. I therefore find it appropriate to give the prosecution enough time to investigate this matter,” he said then.