Mom accused of killing her children collapses before court appearance
The woman accused of bludgeoning her four children to death collapsed shortly before she was due to appear in court on Thursday.
It was to have been Nomboleko Noludwe Simayile’s bail application in the Ngcobo magistrate’s court.
Simayile, 32, was arrested in Tsalaba village, Ngcobo, on November 10. Simayile collapsed at the police station on Thursday and police could not immediately find an ambulance to take her to All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo.
The police station is next to the magistrate’s court.
Her Legal Aid attorney, Nokhanyo Makhonco, and prosecutor Lindiwe Totyi rushed to the police station and found her unattended, and apparently unconscious, on the floor.
Shortly after they left the station, two police officers appeared from the direction of the charge office and assisted a faltering Simayile to the police station’s victims’ service centre. The Dispatch overheard her telling police: “I am dying, please help me.”
She was allowed to rest on the bed in the centre, and minutes later she was assisted to a police van which took her to the hospital.
Simayile is accused of using two hammers to bludgeon her children — Lizalise, 11, Inga, 9, Othalive, 5, and Elihle, 2, in their sleep at home.
Court proceedings continued in her absence. Prosecutor Totyi told magistrate Mohamed Ahmed: “The accused has collapsed at the police station and has been rushed for medical attention.
“Also, the state is not ready to proceed with the bail application but asks for a remand for the accused to be sent for psychiatric evaluation.”
She said a letter had been drafted to request a bed in Fort England Psychiatric Hospital in Makhanda and the referral needed to be prioritised. But Ahmed said there was no written application for the mental evaluation before him.
“I will need to first satisfy myself about that.
The court must first do its evaluation of the accused and see if the application for mental evaluation is necessary,” he said.
Since the attack on the children there have been claims that Simayile has a history of psychiatric problems, but this was the first time the issue was raised in court.
Simayile’s attorney raised concerns about how her client had been treated. “My client collapsed early in the morning, but she did not have medical attention.
“Even when we went to see her in the police station where she had collapsed again, she was alone on the floor, unconscious, and there were no police officers attending to her or getting her medical attention. This could have been worse — she could have died right there,” Makhonco said.
“I am very disappointed with the conduct of the police. This is wrong and shows negligence.”
Makhonco was unable to tell the court whether she intended to proceed with the bail application or whether she concurred with the prosecution’s plan to send Simayile for mental evaluation.
Ahmed provisionally postponed the case to November 29 in the expectation that Simayile would be back from hospital and fit to appear in court.
The children are due to be buried in Tsalaba on Friday.