Three psychiatrists from Sterkfontein psychiatric hospital rejected claims by double murderer Zaheera Boomgaard that she “hears voices” in her head and according to them, she is psychologically sound to face her punishment.
Boomgaard, 62, was back in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Friday following a stint in the psychiatric hospital.
She is due to be sentenced at this stage for the deaths of two elderly people, both in their 70s. They are Jamnadas Harkant Nathvani, a British national whose body was badly burnt, as well as that of her friend, Lynette Mustapha, whose body was also badly burnt.
She met Nathvani on an online site and he came to South Africa to visit her. Mustapha and Boomgaard meanwhile met at church.
Both bodies were found near a road in Walkerville not far from each other and within a few months of each other. Indications are that both were killed elsewhere and that Boomgaard dumped them next to the road before setting them alight.
She was meanwhile acquitted of a third murder – that of John Naisby, who went missing in 2012 after visiting Boomgaard and was never seen again. His body was never recovered, and his family eventually had him declared to be presumably dead by a court.
Boomgaard was, apart from the two murder convictions, also convicted on an array of other charges relating to the fact that she used Nathvani’s bank cards to draw money after his death and she also forged the will of Mustapha to appoint herself the beneficiary of her estate.
She has all along maintained that she was not involved in the killings and the court heard how the “upset” Boomgaard, after the murder of Mustapha, went to her home to sympathise with her family.
The family of both victims meanwhile on Friday handed letters to the court, where they asked for the harshest punishment to be meted out. They also delivered a plea that she never be released from jail on parole.
Mala Nathvani, Nathvani’s daughter, said her frail mother was shattered by the death of her husband. She said her mother had to receive life saving treatment upon hearing the news and while she is alive, she is now wheelchair bound and totally dependent on others.
“My father deserves justice and the truth must be heard”. She described her father as a gentle giant whose kindness knew no bounds. The court was told that he was a man of principle, who knew his flaws. He lent money to others and never expected to be repaid.
Genevieve Antoun, Mustapha’s sister, said the impact of her death on the family has been profound and left them broken. The unanswered questions relating to her violent death have left them with unbearable grief.
“This act of violence was not just against my sister. It was against every weak and vulnerable elderly man, led to trust someone close to them”. Antoun sympathised with the families of Nathvani and Naisby “and the other nameless victims we don’t even know about”.
She called for a life sentence without parole.
“She should never have the chance to harm another innocent person again,” Antoun said.
Boomgaard, in taking the stand to testify in mitigation of sentence, meanwhile responded to a question by the prosecution on whether she did murder the two people she was convicted of, replied: “I accept that I am the cause of their death”.
She, however, shortly before this, while being questioned by her lawyer, suggested her now deceased brother was the actual killer.
Boomgaard also said “it is not right in God’s eyes that people should lose their lives in this manner”.
“It is terribly heartbreaking,” she said, in conclusion of her evidence.
She will be sentenced on October 31.
