Gerald Dube is charged with the murder of Zimbabwean attorney Patricia Majoko and her two children, Amotjilani and Dumisani, and their maid Lindiwe Ncube. It is alleged that Dube, on September 13, 2001, allegedly murdered the quartet at their place at Molapo Estate Suburb, Francistown.
After giving evidence for two days, the case was adjourned briefly to allow the presiding judge Justice Moses Chinhengo, also a Zimbabwean, to make a ruling if it was admissible for the defence attorney Ookeditse Maphakwane to produce the accused person's outpatient (OPD) medical card as part of the defence evidence. But before the judge made his ruling, Maphakwane conceded that the submission of Dube's medical cards was not to prove the veracity or truthfulness of the content therein. "It is to prove the attendance at Nyangabgwe Hospital. We would not require the author of the content therein. We require the court to admit the medical card," submitted Maphakwane.
In his short ruling, Justice Chinhengo noted that initially the defence submitted that the outpatient cards would be produced in terms of Section 246 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA). He said upon reflection, the defence conceded that they were not official documents. Justice Chinhengo said these were not the documents mentioned in Section 245-6 of the CPEA and added that the documents referred to in those sections were outlined in the Government Gazette.
"The defence attorney said that he was submitting them for the purpose that he was admitted to the hospital and that he raised certain complainants regarding his health. In my view they can be submitted to prove that the accused attended clinics or hospital thereof," ruled Justice Chinhengo. After the ruling, the judge asked Maphakwane if there was a possibility that the authors thereof's evidence would not be favourable to the accused. Maphakwane replied that Dr Philip Opondo, the psychiatrist who examined Dube, had testified that the person who initially examined him was a general practitioner.
In his unsworn evidence, Dube told the court that he was told of the death of the Majokos and their maid by police officer Fius Nguni. He also admitted that he made a confession statement before the District Commissioner. He said there was no truth in his confession statement about having bought a cellphone from Majoko. He also said he lied about the spare keys to Majoko's house.
"The reason was that by then I was still scared about the things I had previously seen. The police had taken me to a house where there was a lot of blood on the walls. "I did not notice the house because I was put into a plastic bag. I was also shown the corpses of the Majokos and Ncube," said Dube.
He replayed the issue of his admission at Umungucheni Mental Hospital in the 1990s where the doctors diagnosed his illness as epilepsy that causes hallucination. "I was told that a person could faint, collapse, hear voices and can do things that he would not know if he ever did them. I can also remember hearing voices before I was taken to prison. "Even after I was in prison on May 12, 2004 I was taken to Nyangabgwe Hospital because I was hearing things.
It was even recorded in my medical card," he said. At this juncture Maphakwane read to the court that it was recorded that he complained about the echoes instructing him to get rid of someone he had differed with. He said it was also recorded that his speech was incoherent. It was stated that it could be a case of depressive disorder and elements of paranoia, Maphakwane read from the accused's medical card.
It was at this point that the issue of (in) admissibility of the outpatient medical cards cropped up. The case continues with counsels submitting written and oral submissions.
The state is represented by principal prosecutions counsel Mpho Letsoalo supported by counsels Thamsanqa Selitshena and Moffat Dick.
