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Psychic dead serious about work
By Lauren Cohen

Jackie Pritchard
 AN occupational hazard of being a “medium” is that you often have dead people walking around your house waiting for their living relatives to come for readings, according to psychic Jackie Pritchard.

And she’s not being flippant – Pritchard is someone whom a lot of people, including the police, take very seriously when it comes to clairvoyance.

A former Port Elizabeth racehorse trainer and playschool teacher, Pritchard – who returns to visit her old home town next week – was born a medium and developed her clairvoyant abilities.

This has helped her become an internationally-renowned psychic who has advised music groups including Dr Alban, businessmen and many big-name politicians who travel from all over the country to see her in Cape Town where she now lives.

Her years of experience also mean that she does not grow nervous while doing stock market or investment predictions for people who phone from as far afield as America.

Pritchard, 46, also works together with the police to solve murders by recreating the scene of the crime.

She worked on the highly-publicised 1994 Cisca du Toit murder case in Port Elizabeth.

The 13-year-old netball star was found lying on her bedroom floor in a pool of blood having been stabbed many times with a 20 centimetre knife. Du Toit’s then 16-year- old sister Amanda was subsequently found guilty and jailed for 10 years.

“When I visited the house after the murder I didn’t pick up any vibrations from the sister or any indication she had done wrong,” said Pritchard.

“But the mother was there while I recreated the murder scene and she grew quite upset which could have interfered.”

Working on the case of kidnapped baby Michaela, Prit- -chard correctly predicted that the child would be “returned when she is two” and was not very far from home.

“I can tell people about their job and families, who has died, what they died of and if they have any messages for their loved ones.”

In the style of the John Edwards TV show Crossing Over , Pritchard does live shows of 140 people and gives attention to more than half of her audience.

“I think I am better than John Edwards. I am the fastest working psychic in country,” she said.

Cape Talk and Radio 702 listeners know Pritchard’s work – she regularly does shows where she answers callers’ questions and says she has a 97 per cent accuracy rate.

“I have also been in five South African documentaries and on TV programmes such as Carte Blanche and Life’s Bizarre.”

She said she got her psychic gifts from her mother.

“My mother said I was a medium from 18 months old but I only recall talking to dead people from the age of three.

Working from home where she does five one-on-one sessions a day and two phone sessions, Pritchard sees her police work as charity but said the police have to approach her.

“I’m not looking for fame or fortune, I just want to help bring closure to the families.”

Passing on bad news that she believes a person is dead is done through a policeman.

Her most recent police case was that of a murdered Franschhoek farmer.

Two of Pritchard’s three daughters have their mother’s gift, although neither rely on it as full-time work.

“My eldest reads tea leaves at corporate functions and my youngest can see dead people but we don’t talk about it yet as I don’t want her to think she is different to other children,” said Pritchard who is trying to secure an appearance on a top American talk show and get work on a cruise liner.