Drug-induced illness leads man to kill mother

He emphasised the need for grassroots-level interventions to raise awareness and provide support to affected communities.

Fairness Moyana in Hwange

A VICTORIA Falls man who last year went berserk and brutally axed his 60-year-old mother to death has been committed to a mental institution in a case of drug-induced mental illness.

Paul Jubane (35) of BH28, Chief Mvuthu, Victoria Falls armed himself with an axe which he used to brutally attack his mother Irene Jubane in full glare of his frail father. So brutal was the act that repeated axe blows to his mother’s body resulted in the axe getting lodged in the deceased’s head.

However, Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Christopher Dube-Banda sitting on circuit in Hwange retained a special verdict in terms of Section 29 (2) (a) of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12 saying the accused suffered from a mental disorder and committed him to Mlondolozi Mental Health Institution for treatment.

In a statement of agreement between the State and defence, the two parties agreed that in terms of the Mental Health Act guided by the mental examination by psychiatrists the accused suffered from substance-induced psychosis and was therefore mentally disturbed to such an extent that he should not be held legally responsible for his conduct.

According to the statement of agreed facts, on 24 June 2023 and at around 0800hrs the deceased was watering vegetables in the garden when his son came out of his bedroom carrying an axe before approaching her from behind.

Without warning, he struck his mother once on the back of the head with the axe and she fell to the ground facing downwards. In a frenzy he again struck the deceased once on the back of the head as she was lying down. The axe remained stuck on deceased’s head. Tuesday Jubane, the deceased’s husband was not able to render any aid to the deceased as the accused’s violent behaviour escalated.

Tuesday was forced to flee from the homestead to seek help from neighbours. The deceased bled profusely from the wound at the back of the head and she died on the spot. According to the postmortem report, the deceased died from brain damage, skull fracture and wounds as a result of the attack.