21 Jan 2024

Death row inmate Gobuamang Ntsuape has been diagnosed with unresolved anger issues and excessive jealousy.

A Senior Consultant at Jubilee Psychiatry Clinic, Dr Paul Sidandi said this during a tense courtroom session on January 18 before Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo as part of Ntsuape’s mitigation.

Dr Sidandi said when Ntsuape wrestled for a steering wheel of the vehicle he and others were transported in from court, resulting in the death of a special constable, Ntusa and rape accused inmate Emmanuel Mapholo on September 2016, he was harbouring anger and excessive jealousy.

“His risk assessment of harming others was high, harming himself high, but self-neglect low,” he said.

Dr Sidandi said he examined Ntsuape on October 17, 2016, a month before the incident, after he was referred to him by the magistrate’s court after he was charged with the murder of Sadi Kgosietsile, who was his ex-girlfriend’s mother.

He said during the assessment, he discovered that after the ex-girlfriend terminated the relationship, Ntsuape, out of jealousy set the ex-girlfriend’s car on fire.

The fire spread to the other car and eventually engulfed the house and killed his ex-girlfriend’s mother and injured others.

Dr Sidandi said before the two incidents, Ntsuape, who has been convicted for the murder of Mapholo and Ntusa as well as sentenced to death for the murder of Kgosietsile l, was between June and July 2016, incarcerated at Central Police Station for common nuisance after being accused of using abusive language against his manager.

“It was highly probable that he will need post-trial counselling,” he said, adding that Ntsuape’s prediction of violence was high and such was sustained by ongoing legal tussles.

He said the convict exhibited impulsiveness, adding that his background check showed that the Ramotswa-born Ntsuape grew up in a hostile environment, as his parents separated only for the father to come back when he was about a year and half old and he eventually died in 2010.

He said Ntsuape grew normally and only got to be ill-disciplined at junior secondary school.

“Whenever he was punished he would threaten to kill himself by hanging and would take a rope,” Dr Sidandi said.

And at one point he threatened to drown himself in a rapidly flowing river.

As for his relationships, his mother was oftentimes summoned to school as he was a bully and part of a delinquent group.

He nevertheless obtained thirty-six points at BGCSE but was not admitted to any tertiary institution.

Ntsuape is said to have had a strained relationship with his step father, whom he despised, and at one point locked his siblings in the house and threatened to set it on fire to avoid them growing closer to the step father.

He was arrested and spent three days in police custody and the matter was eventually settled through family reconciliation.

Also, Dr Sidandi said when the ex-girlfriend terminated the relationship, Ntsuape was already angry that the girlfriend had not checked on him while in custody and accused her of having found another boyfriend.

Dr Sidandi said he was diagnosed with unresolved anger issues and excessive jealousy.

In his evidence in chief, Ntsuape, whose words were laced with emotions, said he was provoked by the police and prison officers to overreact.

He said the officers told him that they were waiting for his time to be hanged, which would bring solace to the society and the family of the deceased.

“I wish there was another way I could express how I felt, I completely lost it, “he said, leaving a deep impression that he was undeserving of a harsh punishment such as the death penalty.

The case will continue on March 6 and March 14, where Ntsuape will continue his mitigation. ENDS