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FAITH GUDO, a former Midlands State University lecturer, recently took the concept of “rock-solid arguments” a bit too literally.
In a tragic twist worthy of a cautionary tale, Gudo, a man of letters and lectures, will now be a guest of the State for 15 years for murder after fatally striking his neighbour, David Dube, with a rock during an altercation over stray cattle.
Gudo, the proud owner of Wildbeast Farm in Chivhu, was having a particularly rough day when Dube’s cattle decided to turn his perfectly manicured fields into a bovine buffet.
Enraged, Gudo transformed from a mild-mannered academic to a furious stone-hurling individual, unleashing a projectile that would have made the biblical David green with envy.
Dube, unfortunately, succumbed to the blow, sending Gudo on a whirlwind journey from farmer to criminal.
Despite a valiant attempt to play the hero by rushing Dube to hospital, Gudo’s efforts were all in vain, as his victim eventually shuffled off this mortal coil.
In court, Gudo tried to play the victim, claiming he was merely a misunderstood farmer driven to the brink.
But High Court Judge Justice Esther Muremba was clearly unamused by Gudo’s behaviour and sentenced the former lecturer to a lengthy stay in prison.
While Gudo’s legal team argued that their client was a pillar of the community, a beacon of academia and a model farmer, the judge was more concerned with the fact that Gudo had turned his field into a crime scene.
As Gudo begins his new career as a jailbird, one can only hope he will learn one or two lessons on anger management and the dangers of taking the law into one’s hands.
Perhaps he will even write a ground-breaking academic paper on cattle farming and anger management.
One can only hope his time in prison will be as enlightening as his lectures once were.
Bongani Ndlovu