The Zimbabwean who tried to hijack a South African Airways (SAA) flight from Cape Town earlier this year is a ”paranoid delusional” and should be sent home for treatment, a psychiatrist has recommended.
The recommendation was contained in a report handed in on Thursday to the Bellville Regional Court, where Tinashe Rioga (21), a commerce student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), made another brief appearance.
His attorney, Reuben Liddell, said he had asked veteran Cape Town psychiatrist, Professor Tuviah Zabow, to assess Rioga with a view to applying for the young man to be sent to Valkenburg psychiatric hospital for observation.
Zabow said in the report that when he saw Rioga, the Zimbabwean had already been diagnosed by a psychiatrist at Goodwood Prison as being psychotic with ”prominent persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations”.
Zabow said Rioga had a history of recent physical illness and fainting, and there was a family history of epilepsy and possible mental illness.
”It appears as if he has been deteriorating with his functioning for some time and has been unwell for most of this year,” Zabow said.
Rioga had become apprehensive and unhappy at UCT, and at one point refused to return to residence.
”He became more fearful that he would be harmed following incidents in which fellow country students had been targeted,” Zabow said.
He said Rioga was intelligent, with ”fixed delusional ideas”, which appeared to have led to the hijack attempt.
”His behaviour [at] the time of alleged offence is to be related to mental illness and that he did not have the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or to act accordingly,” Zabow said.
His diagnosis was ”paranoid delusional disorder”, which could be acute schizophrenia.
Zabow said Rioga needed treatment urgently.
”He is not considered dangerous and would appropriately be returned to the care of his brother in his home country. Negotiations should be instituted to withdraw charges on the basis of mental illness,” he said.
Magistrate Johan Vermaak ordered that Rioga be sent to Valkenburg for a 30-day period for assessment by a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists.
He postponed the case to January 19.
The bespectacled Rioga listened attentively to the proceedings, showing no emotion other than bowing his head as the magistrate made the 30-day order.
He asked Liddell for a copy of Zabow’s report before he was led from the courtroom. He has not been granted bail.
Rioga tried to hijack an SAA flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg in June, threatening an air hostess with a syringe and demanding access to the cockpit.
He was overpowered by passengers. — Sapa