By Fidelis Munyoro-Chief Court Reporter
Six years may have passed since the tragic death of a four-year-old child in rural Mashonaland Central, but for one father, the pain remains as raw as the day his world shattered.
What began as an ordinary winter afternoon in Jenami Village ended in unimaginable heartbreak when a child was killed after falling from an ox-drawn scotch cart loaded with firewood.
The tragedy has since found its way through Zimbabwe’s courts, culminating in a High Court judgment that highlighted not only the devastating consequences of a momentary lapse in judgment but also the human cost of delayed justice.
In a poignant review judgment, High Court Judge Justice Faith Mushure reflected on the profound grief carried by the child’s father, 36-year-old Feredinayi Nyanhi, while questioning why it took six years for the matter to reach the courts.
The incident occurred on July 28, 2020, at around 5pm. Nyanhi had loaded a scotch cart with freshly cut firewood and, in a decision that would haunt him forever, allowed his four-year-old child to sit atop the cargo as he travelled along a dirt road in Chief Negomo’s area.
As the oxen pulled the heavily laden cart over uneven ground, the load shifted. Nyanhi briefly lost control and watched in horror as the child slipped off the stack of firewood and fell beneath the cart.
In a matter of seconds, the cart’s wheels rolled over the child’s head, causing fatal injuries.
A routine journey had turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.
According to the court, the tragedy left Nyanhi carrying the emotional burden of knowing that his own actions had contributed to the death of his child. Yet despite the gravity of the incident, the matter remained dormant for years.
When criminal proceedings were finally initiated six years later, Nyanhi found himself forced to relive the darkest chapter of his life.
Justice Mushure was critical of the unexplained delay, noting that the passage of time had compounded the father’s suffering.
“The wheels of justice in this matter have turned with regrettable slowness,” she observed.
“No explanation has been advanced for the six-year delay in having the matter brought to court, an unfortunate lapse that inevitably reopened old wounds and compelled the offender to confront anew the painful reality that his child’s death resulted from his own conduct. The administration of justice must be tempered with sensitivity.”
When the matter eventually came before the Concession Magistrates’ Court, Nyanhi pleaded guilty to culpable homicide.
The court sentenced him to 18 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on condition that he perform 420 hours of community service.
However, the magistrate also imposed a six-month prohibition from driving a motor vehicle, a decision that triggered an automatic review by the High Court.
Examining the legality of that aspect of the sentence, Justices Mushure and Mandaza concluded that the restriction could not stand because the offence involved an ox-drawn scotch cart rather than a motor vehicle.
In reaching that conclusion, the court explored legal definitions and precedents, ultimately determining that a scotch cart, powered by animals rather than an engine, falls outside the scope of legislation governing motor vehicles.
The High Court therefore set aside the driving ban while leaving the remainder of the sentence intact. Yet beyond the legal technicalities and judicial reasoning lies a far more profound reality. No court ruling can erase the trauma of that afternoon or relieve the burden Nyanhi has carried since losing his child.
While the legal chapter has finally closed, the personal sentence remains.
In the quiet reaches of Jenami Village, where life continues along dusty roads and beneath open skies, a grieving father must still live with the memory of a single tragic decision and the irreversible loss that followed.
For him, the most enduring punishment was never the community service or the court appearance. It was the knowledge that in one terrible moment, he lost the person he was trying to protect most.
