Death by stabbing at booze-fuelled prayer party

Danisa Masuku

A booze-fuelled prayer party ended in bloodshed after a Plumtree man was stabbed on the thigh with an okapi knife by his drinking buddy — and left to die in the yard!

Jethro Ndlovu, whose age wasn’t revealed, appeared before Bulawayo High Court Judge Naison Chivayo facing murder charges — but he dodged a bullet after the court bought his story.

According to Ndlovu, it all started on 19 February 2018, during a family prayer meeting at his Plumtree home. After the holy session, things took a wild turn when he and his drinking partner Qhawelethu Mpofu hit the bottle in his bedroom.

Nature called, and when Ndlovu returned from the loo, he found his bag ransacked and Mpofu digging through his wardrobe.

“I asked him what he was doing and he couldn’t explain himself,” said Ndlovu. “So I slapped him.”

That slap lit a fuse. Mpofu allegedly threatened to stab him, grabbed an okapi knife and charged at Ndlovu — but the tables turned.

“I grabbed him by the collar, disarmed him and stabbed him in the thigh,” said Ndlovu.

Mpofu collapsed. Ndlovu dragged him out and left him lying outside all night, bleeding. By morning, he was dead in the yard.

The Judge ruled that Ndlovu acted in panic and reduced the charge to culpable homicide.

He was sentenced to 5 years — with 3 years suspended for good behaviour. The remaining 2 years were set aside on condition he pays a US$600 fine — or else face 36 months in jail.