Zimbabwean university student Tinashe Rioga, who allegedly tried to hijack a South African Airways (SAA) flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg last year, was on Wednesday declared unfit to stand trial in terms of the Mental Disorders Act.
The order declaring him unfit to stand trial was made by magistrate Johan Vermaak when Rioga, a BSc student at the University of Cape Town, appeared in the Bellville Regional Court.
The order was made after Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital authorities declared Rioga unable to understand the proceedings, or to grasp the gravity of his offence.
A medical report said he had schizophrenia.
Riaga’s lawyer, Leon van der Merwe, said Rioga had for all practical purposes been declared a state president’s patient, which means he will be referred back to the hospital for treatment.
If and when psychiatrists consider him sufficiently recovered for release from hospital, an application for his discharge will be placed before a high court judge in chambers, Van der Merwe said.
He said the outcome of the case means that Rioga was in fact mentally ill at the time of the alleged offence, and for this reason could never again face trial for the attempted hijack, even if he recovers from his illness. — Sapa