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Lovisha: Suspects Arrested

The following article appeared in the Sunday Times, a South African newspaper on November 3, 2002.

Taschica Pillay

A TEENAGER accused of raping and murdering Durban schoolgirl Lovisha Persad is suffering from hallucinations and nightmares, according to a district surgeon's report.

The 16-year-old Grade 10 pupil of Dr A D Lazarus Secondary School, who appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Friday, told a district surgeon that he hears voices saying, "I am coming for you. I want to poke you many times."

Dressed in white jeans and a blue sweater, the teenager appeared in court with his co-accused, Msawenkosi Sigedle, 23.

Persad, 14, of Reservoir Hills, was found dead with more than 100 stab wounds in a park on August 31.

A Grade 9 pupil at Dr A D Lazarus Secondary School, she left her home in Whittaker Avenue on the evening of August 30 to buy cake from a shop some 200 metres away.

The teenage accused was arrested last Thursday at his home in Reservoir Hills, and Sigedle was arrested last Saturday.

A district surgeon who examined the teenager on Friday recommended that he be committed for observation.

He said in a report the teen-ager was "unfit to stand trial until fully assessed by a psychiatrist".

Magistrate Jean Jay ordered that the teenager be sent for mental observation.

Prosecutor Jan Buitendag asked that the case be postponed to December 3. Sigedle was remanded in custody.