adminTarirai Gotoze of Village 18 Chief Tokwe in Masvingo pleaded guilty to the charge of abuse of a firearm when he appeared before Masvingo magistrate Mr Oliver Mudzongachiso last week.
For the offence, both men were given an option to pay a fine of $100 on or before 30 May 2012 failure, which they will languish in jail for 25 days.
For the State, Ms Silivaziso Mupome told the court that on an unknown date but sometime in June 2011 Gotoze gave his licenced .303mm rifle with serial number 42910 to one Nhamo Mazanhi (age not given) of the same village, for use yet he had no licence or permission to use the firearm.
The court heard that Gotoze had applied for the use of the firearm to protect his animals, since he is a farmer with a lot of livestock.
He has been using the firearm for the past 10 years.
The court further heard that Mazanhi was found with the gun after the police received a tip off to the effect that he was in possession of a firearm.
The police then approached Mazanhi and found him in possession of the firearm.
They asked for a licence but he revealed that the gun belonged to his neighbour Gotoze. The police then took the gun and the two were arrested.
When Mr Mudzongachiso asked him why he abused the firearm by lending it to someone yet he knew that his neighbour did not have a licence, the man said he had given him to clean it and was not aware that the man would move around with the gun.
“My worship my neighbour is the one who cleans my firearm and I did not give him to use but to just clean and return it. However, on the fateful day he could not return it as per my expectation and spent some time with my firearm until he was caught by the police.”
“I admit that I acted irresponsibly, my worship and I swear that I will not do it again,” the man said in mitigation, pleading for leniency.
Online Reporter