Accused asks to pray before answering

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Tuesday January 12, 2010 00:00

Instead of giving the guilty or not guilty plea Fani said, 'I am requesting to pray before I can say anything. I would want my ancestors to instruct me as to what to say before this court.' To which Rusike promptly replied: 'You can pray outside this court.' As if he had not heard what the magistrate said, Fani began to talk about how he had been sick since 1985. 'My ancestors have told me that I should have died in 2007, I used to have two children now I have got 10. I was so sick, I could not walk back in 2007, but my wife was helping me a lot and then her father passed away. I would dream about him (the father in law) coming out of the cemetery only wearing shorts.' When he finished, what started as giggling in the gallery developed into full-blown laughter.

'Are you sure there is no need for a psychiatric evaluation?' the magistrate asked.
According to the prosecution, led by Inspector Oteng Selalame, on January 1, 2010, the police found six plants that resembled dagga at his home in Kutamogoree. There was no objection when Rusike ruled that before he comes for mention again on February 9, Fani will be taken for psychiatric evaluation.