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Leonard Ncube in Hwange
LAW enforcement agents should not act as “outlaws” and abuse the rights of suspects, a Bulawayo High Court judge said yesterday.
Justice Martin Makonese spoke as he delivered judgement in two separate murder cases as the Bulawayo High Court sat on circuit in Hwange.
The first case involved two members of the Neighbourhood Watch Committee who bludgeoned a man to death with a baton stick while taking him to a police station in Binga, and the second was of two security guards from Fatima High School farm who killed a suspect over the theft of maize cobs.
Lembasi Muleya (43) and Rodgers Siakweka Mupande (44) from the Chilamba area of Binga pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jikweendi Mupande but were convicted on their own pleas of guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide by Justice Makonese.
“It’s beyond the court’s imagination why the accused attacked the deceased who was already handcuffed. You were members of the neighbourhood watch and inflicted terror on the people you were supposed to protect thereby acting as outlaws,” the judge told the two killers.
He said the court was mandated to meet the trust of members of the public by giving deterrent sentences to show that the justice system was not trivialised.
Muleya and Mupande were then sentenced to eight years in jail each.
State counsel Mr Whispher Mabhaudhi from the Attorney General’s Office had also submitted that NWC members were bound by the same code of conduct that is used by the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
“The accused persons wanted to make an arrest for a simple case of assault which they ended up failing to do. They arrested the deceased for trying to interfere with justice but went on to assault him on the way to the police station, that was callous,” he said.
Mr Mabhaudhi told the court how in April 2005 Muleya and Mupande went to arrest Mr Robson Mupande at night for assaulting another man. Jikweendi, who is the suspect’s brother, intervened and tried to block the arrest.
The two men assaulted Jikweendi so severely he started bleeding from the nose and could not walk, the court heard.
Muleya and Mupande spent the night in the bush trying to nurse Jikweendi who was still bleeding as a result of the assault. He was dead by the morning.
In another case, security guards Nobunzima Nyoni (37) and Kholisani Ndlovu (33) pleaded guilty to culpable homicide over the killing of Sikokiyana Ncube, who was 40 in 2002, for allegedly stealing maize cobs.
Justice Makonese said the least the two could have done was to take their suspect to the police so that he could be taken to court.
“The circumstances in which this crime was committed are disturbing.
“You were farm guards and it was not your mandate to assault victims.
“You didn’t take them to the police and court and in such a case the justice delivery system would be ineffective if you are forgiven,” the judge told Nyoni and Ndlovu before sentencing.
“Anyone with a duty of guarding premises or property should take the suspects to court rather than assaulting them as has become the norm. However, I will exercise some leniency that you were still young and immature when you committed the crime.”
Justice Makonese jailed the two for an effective eight years.
The court heard how Nyoni and Ndlovu discovered a bag of maize hidden near the fence of the school farm. They set up an ambush and lay in wait for the maize thief to return to pick it up in the evening.
When Ncube turned up, they struck him with an axe and logs until he lost consciousness. He died on the way to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
Online Reporter