Mother who killed own child sent for mental evaluation

WINDHOEK, 17 MAY – A Swakopmund mother accused of killing her two-year-old daughter along the Henties Bay-Terrace Bay road in September 2016, has finally been sent for a psychiatric evaluation.

Zenobia Seas will be admitted to the Windhoek Central Hospital’s psychiatric unit for 30 days of psychiatric observation to determine her mental health status before, during and after the alleged commission of the crime.

This was done as per an order issued by High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg. It followed an agreement reached by Seas’ government-funded defence lawyer Christopher Dube and Deputy Prosecutor-General Antonia Verhoef in court on Thursday, that the accused be referred for mental evaluation as she requested during previous court appearances.

Seas returns to the High Court on 14 June 2018 when the outcome of the report of her mental evaluation will be made public.
The 32-year-old mother stands accused of smothering her daughter with a piece of cloth.

Her murder case was on 25 October 2017 transferred from the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court to the Windhoek High Court as per a decision by the Office of the Prosecutor-General.

Seas, who was employed at Husab Mine at the time of the incident, allegedly drove from Swakopmund with her daughter to about 112 kilometres northwest of Henties Bay, where the toddler was killed.

It is suspected that after suffocating the child, Seas put firewood under her vehicle in an effort to burn herself and the slain toddler’s body inside the car.

The wood had, however, not caught fire when the police arrived at the scene and arrested her.
Seas was held in custody at the Klein Windhoek Police Station with no option to post bail before her admission for mental observation at the Windhoek Central Hospital.
NAMPA