Court hears convicted killer used cocaine and cannabis before mother’s murder - IOL

Jessica Jaganath was preparing for her son's birthday when he killed her in May 2021.

His mother lay dying in her Clare Estate bedroom, but Uveer Jaganath did not attempt to save her. Instead, after stabbing her multiple times, he turned the knife on himself to set up a defence.

On Tuesday, the 25-year-old was convicted of murdering his mother, Jessica Jaganath, 44, on May 6, 2021.

In a damning judgment, Durban Regional Court magistrate Sophie Reddy rejected Jaganath's claim that he had been in a drug-induced dissociative or psychotic state when he killed his mother.

Jaganath’s defence had been that he had no memory of the murder and that his mother had actually stabbed him.

He only remembered that he had an argument with his mother after she had found cigarettes in his bag.

Reddy found that his actions before and after the murder showed that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“His manner and actions were entirely hostile and cold-blooded,” Reddy said.

Uveer Jaganath's defence had been that he had no memory of murdering his mother, Jessica Jaganath.

She said Jaganath’s conduct before the attack, including assuring neighbouring relatives that everything was fine before obtaining a knife and returning to his mother's bedroom, and his actions afterwards, including stabbing himself, showed “a clear awareness of what he was doing”.

The court found that Jaganath's actions were “focused and goal-directed”.

“There was certainly no lack of comprehension of events in these circumstances,” Reddy said.

The court ultimately rejected the defence's claims of criminal incapacity.

“The evidence has established beyond a reasonable doubt that you caused the death of your mother. You murdered the deceased by stabbing her several times,” said Reddy.

The post-mortem examination found 27 penetrating incised wounds, some on Jessica's neck, chest and abdomen.

Some of the wounds had penetrated both lungs and the heart.

The forensic pathologist testified that, because of the clustering of the wounds, they were likely inflicted within a narrow period of time.

Just hours before he killed his mother, she had taken her son and his then girlfriend to a shopping mall to buy a dress for his girlfriend to wear at his birthday dinner planned for the next evening.

Partially wrapped gifts and a birthday greeting card lay on the bed in the room where his mother was killed.   

The court heard that Jaganath had consumed cocaine and cannabis after the shopping trip. This was after he had met a friend at Varsity College where he was a third-year student.

When he returned home, his mother said his eyes looked yellow.

Jaganath then had a shower and went to his mother's bedroom.

She confronted him about cigarettes she had found in his bag and threatened to tell his father.

Jaganath messaged his father, telling him about the argument and that his mother had found the cigarettes.

His father replied that he would deal with the matter when he returned home.

Instead his father returned to a bloody scene at the Vialls Place home.

The court heard that Jaganath’s younger brother was in matric at the time of the murder. 

His mother was a housewife and his father was a self-employed electrician. They lived with his paternal grandfather, whose brother’s family shared the property and had testified in the trial.

Reddy noted in her judgment, given the close relationship between the families, they may have been inclined to “play things down” to not implicate Jaganath, but found that their testimonies were corroborated by the statements they made both before and after the incident.

Jaganath remained largely emotionless as Reddy read out her judgment. It was only when she revoked his bail that his composure finally broke.

He turned towards the gallery and mouthed to his current girlfriend: “I can’t do this.”

He began shaking and was later heard sobbing loudly from the holding cells as he consulted with his lawyer.

Outside court, his father paced anxiously.

Reddy directed both the State and defence to prepare for the possibility that she could impose a sentence exceeding the prescribed minimum of 15 years.

Jaganath is due back in court in November for the probation officer’s report, which will be considered before he is sentenced.