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Senior Court Reporter
A 27-YEAR-OLD Zimbabwean man was beginning a life sentence in a South African prison last Friday after being convicted over the murder of a workmate.Mr Marshall Zimbudzana — whose sentencing originally slated for last month was delayed because there was no Shona interpreter — killed his foreman Sonnyboy Nkosi, 40, during a row over his wage, the Thohoyandou High Court heard.
Mr Zimbudzana’s trial heard how on 17 March last year, he and Nkosi — workmates at a borehole drilling company — had a wage dispute at the home of a client in Muduluni village in Limpopo Province, where the two were deployed to drill a borehole.
Mr Zimbudzana was demanding a wage increase from Nkosi.
The prosecution successfully proved that Mr Zimbudzana had picked up a spade and then struck Nkosi once, killing him instantly.
In his defence, Mr Zimbudzana — who represented himself — insisted that he had returned from buying cigarettes at a nearby kiosk and found his workmate, also Zimbabwean dead.
“I did not kill him,” he told Justice Khami Makhafola.
But the judge dismissed his defence and found him guilty.
Online Reporter