The court has ordered that the 17-year-old teenager accused of the murder of 16-year-old Deveney Nel undergo evaluation at the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in Observatory, Cape Town.
Psychiatric evaluation
The Caledon Magistrate’s Court ordered that the murder-accused teenager in the Deveney Nel case be admitted for psychiatric evaluation. This decision came after his legal representatives submitted an application to the court requesting it.
As a result, the court has postponed the case until next month, according to capetownetc.
Markedly, the accused also underwent psychiatric assessment at the Valkenberg Hospital in 2020 following an accusation of rape.
The psychiatrist and clinical psychologist who evaluated the teenager at the time, concluded that the accused had ‘cognitive weakness and moral and social immaturity’.
Therefore, they found that the patient did not have criminal capacity at the time of the alleged rape of the 11-year-old victim in 2020.
Teenager previously accused of rape
After the arrest for Deveney’s murder, the mother of another girl came forward revealing that the same teenage boy was accused of raping her then 11-year-old daughter in 2020.
Although the rape was reported at the time, the mother of the victim stated that the justice system failed both her and her daughter during the 2020 proceedings. She added that because of this, the justice system is ultimately partly responsible for Deveney Nel’s murder.
The authorities withdrew the rape case against the teenager just a year before Deveney Nel, an Overberg High School learner, was fatally stabbed.
Search party finds Deveney’s body in storeroom
Deveney’s mother reported her missing on 7 August 2024. This was after Deveney did not show up for her ride home after school. Caledon police consequently formed a search party. Following a search that lasted several hours, the search party found her body in a storeroom at the school. Medical personnel declared her deceased on the scene, according to Captain FC van Wyk.
Detectives from the Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes arrested the suspect on 16 August 2024. His first court appearance in the Caledon Magistrates Court was on 19 August 2024.
Because the murder suspect is a minor, authorities cannot make his name public.
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