Online Reporter
Danisa Masuku
A POLICE officer stationed at the Police Protection Unit (PPU) is now answering to the law after a freak shooting incident left him nursing a bullet wound on his knee.
Dubani Munkuli (36) appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Challenge Mahembe facing a charge of negligently discharging a firearm. He pleaded not guilty.
Through his lawyer, Munkuli insisted he did not cock the CZ pistol or pull the trigger. He argued that the weapon could have gone off on its own due to poor servicing. “The service history of this State pistol is unknown. It may have discharged because of a mechanical fault and it is not the accused’s responsibility to ensure service. That cannot be negligence on his part,” his lawyer told the court.
But a ballistic expert threw cold water on that defence, declaring that a firearm cannot discharge on its own. “That is impossible unless someone presses the trigger,” the expert testified.
Munkuli’s lawyer pressed back with a burning question: when was the gun last serviced? The expert admitted ignorance, giving the defence room to argue that the pistol might have gone off due to lack of maintenance.
The court heard that the incident happened on 15 May this year while Munkuli was deployed at State House in Bulawayo. He had been posted on duty with fellow officer Simbarashe Manombe.
It is alleged that at around 11.20pm, Munkuli who was seated stood up to head to the toilet while clutching his firearm with both hands. In the process he allegedly discharged a round which ripped through his knee, leaving him bleeding from a gunshot wound.
He was remanded out of custody to 25 August for continuation of trial.
The incident has become the talk of Bulawayo’s streets, with bar patrons joking that “instead of catching criminals, the cop caught himself.”
Others quipped that “these old guns are so tired they are now shooting their owners.”
Some officers quietly admitted that faulty service weapons are a ticking time bomb that could land many more in trouble.
