Durban — A Clare Estate man charged with the murder of his mother whom he allegedly stabbed more than 20 times has pleaded not guilty to the murder.
On Tuesday in the Durban Regional Court, Uveer Jaganath who allegedly murdered his mother following an argument in their home said that he snorted cocaine and smoked dagga before the alleged murder.
In his plea affidavit read out in court, he said that following the argument with his mother he does not remember what took place and had no recollection of any interaction between himself and his mother.
At the time of the alleged murder in 2021, just days before Mother’s Day, Uveer was 20 and his mother was 44.
Uveer’s legal representative, advocate Paddy Prior instructed by attorney Bob Bahadur, read out the accused’s plea in court.
In it, he said that on the day he, his mom and his girlfriend went to a mall to buy a dress for his girlfriend to wear at his birthday celebration that was planned to take place at a restaurant in uMhlanga.
Uveer said after dropping off his girlfriend he and his mom went home following which his father picked him up to take him to campus.
“A friend of mine and I had planned not to attend lectures but had arranged to use drugs instead.
“Before my friend arrived I had contacted my dealer who brought a bag of cocaine to the campus.
“My friend arrived and we went in his car to purchase the dagga. We drove to Westville where we smoked the dagga. On the way I snorted cocaine, I also smoked cigarettes laced with cocaine. I used up all the cocaine and we smoked all the dagga.”
Uveer said his father then fetched him from campus to drop him off at home, and his mother noticed that he was not himself with yellow eyes.
“My mother confronted me about the cigarettes she found in my bag. She was very upset and a heated argument ensued with lots of shouting.
“I contacted my father who said he would deal with this when he got home. My mother was on the phone with Aunty Geetha and Uncle Ravi was at the sliding door asking if everything was okay. I replied that it was.
“After that, I don’t remember what took place …The next recollection I had was when I noticed I was injured and had been told by my grandfather that my mother was injured … I was told I killed my mother.”
Prior told the court that Uveer had been examined by two psychiatrists who had prepared a joint medico-legal report attached to his plea which was handed in to the court.
Part of the report includes a scan of the accused’s brain which showed significant hypoperfusion of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain “in a patchy distribution”.
Uveer is out on R20 000 bail.
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Daily News