IOL.co.za reports that the 26-year-old from Savannah Park pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder on Thursday, 10 July, 2014.
According to the report, Madiya told the
court through his Legal Aid attorney, Hycenth Mlotshwa, that he saw the
“tiger”, referring to the Grade 1 pupil Lindokuhle Mabhena, approach him
at a Shallcross park in June last year and thought he was going to
attack him.
The accused added that he had stabbed the boy with a knife he had found on the ground earlier.
“It was only after a group of people arrived
that I realised it was not a tiger but a human being,” Madiya
reportedly said at the start of his murder trial on Thursday before
magistrate Trevor Levitt.
Mlotshwa told the court his client believed
in supernatural powers, adding that the accused saw fellow inmates
transform into animals in the prison where is being held during the
trial.
Prosecutor Krishen Shah, however, said the
accused had been referred for mental observation and was deemed mentally
fit to stand trial.
It was gathered that around midday on June 15
last year, Madiya was skateboarding at a park in Peak Street,
Shallcross, when seven young children, who had been following him,
approached him. He said they all suddenly transformed into tigers.
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