Vusumuzi Dube
Jean Sigauke in Plumtree
A 22-year-old man who was found cooking a portion of his neighbour’s goat that had been attacked by jackals before slaughtering another neighbour’s goat for the pot is in trouble with the law after the cases were reported to the police leading to his arrest.
Johnson Ndlovu (22) appeared before Plumtree magistrate Mr Arafat Khozanani facing two counts of stocktheft where he was accused of stealing two goats from his neighbours and eating them.
He pleaded guilty to one count and denied the other but the court found overwhelming evidence and convicted him.
Prosecutor, Mr Foster Makuvere told the court that on the first count on an unknown date but in February this year in Hadzikwa area of Bulilima District, Mr Sicelo Ndebele (31) discovered that one of his goats was missing from his pen and then asked Ndlovu who was tasked with looking after the goats to check for it.
Ndlovu then set off to look for the goat and found it trapped in a snare with only half of the carcass as the rest had been eaten by jackals.
Ndlovu took the remaining half and instead of taking it to Mr Ndebele and explaining what had befallen the goat, he set off to the mountain where he started an open fire and cooked the meat.
He was, however, found by the complainant’s brother as he was about to eat the meat that he had cooked while part of the meat was in a bucket that had the goat’s hide and a 500g packet of salt.
For the second count, the court heard that on 24 March this year Ndlovu stole a goat belonging to Ms Busisiwe Dube which he slaughtered and again ate the meat.
The court found him guilty of both counts and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment where three months were suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit an offence of a similar nature.
For the remaining nine he was asked to conduct 315 hours of community service at Nyele Primary School.
Online Reporter