adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A 73-YEAR-OLD man from Plumtree will spend the next year in prison for stabbing his 68-year-old neighbour with a knife during a misunderstanding.
Dumezweni Moyo, who lives in George Silundika area, stabbed Nicodimus Mathe once on the chest and neck.
Moyo pleaded not guilty to assault charges when he appeared before Plumtree magistrate, Gideon Ruvetsa, but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence.
Ruvetsa sentenced Moyo to 18 months imprisonment and suspended six months for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
“You’re a reckless man and your actions could have caused severe damage on Mathe. You deserve a deterrent sentence that will rid you of the violent mind-set that you have,” he said.
The court heard that Moyo went to his neighbour’s homestead while holding a knife with the intention of stabbing Mathe’s nephew for reasons that were not established.
As Mathe attempted to stop the old man, he was stabbed.
In his defence, the old man had told the court that he stabbed Mathe in self-defence.
“Mathe attacked me first Your Worship and that caused a fight between us. He hit me with a knobkerrie and I tried to block the blows with my hands but he kept attacking me.
“I retrieved the knife in a bid to scare him off but he kept advancing and that was when I stabbed him with a knife,” said Moyo.
Mathe, however, told the court that the old man stormed his homestead while holding a knife and said he wanted to stab his nephew over an undisclosed reason.
He said he took a knobkerrie in a bid to scare the old man away but Moyo stabbed him on the chest and neck.
Mathe said he screamed for help and his nephew assisted him to disarm the old man.
Online Reporter