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Limukani Ncube (30), of Mbizo Village under Chief Sigola pleaded not guilty to the murder of Akhiwe Ncube (18) but tendered a plea of guilt to a lesser charge of culpable homicide.
Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha sitting with Messrs Elias Nyoni and Jongilizwe Sobantu found him not guilty and acquitted him on the murder charge.
The court convicted him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
In passing sentence, the court accepted his mitigation that Akhiwe was the aggressor and that he tried to avoid him by all means.
Limukani’s pro deo lawyer, Miss Nozipho Dube, of Mudenda Attorneys had urged the court to take into account that his client was provoked and that he acted in self-defence.
“He has asked me to inform the court that he is contrite and would like to apologise for what he did,” she submitted.
The court said it had also taken into account that Limukani had spent 11 months in remand prison awaiting the finalisation of his case.
“A young life was lost unnecessarily because had you not used the knife you would not be in the dock today. The court is not losing sight of the fact that the deceased was the aggressor and also the fact that the delay in finalising your case is no fault of yours,” said Justice Kamocha.
Agreed facts by the prosecutor, Mr Thompson Hove and Miss Dube were that on 8 October last year, at around 8pm, Limukani and Akhiwe had a misunderstanding over Limukani’s girlfriend who stays in the same village with Akhiwe.
The pair was among other villagers who were drinking beer at Viki Zonke Bottle Store at Mbizo Business Centre.
Limukani went out of the bottle store and Akhiwe followed him resulting in a scuffle ensuing.
Limukani pushed Akhiwe and asked him why he was fighting him.
Akhiwe hit him with a fist on the forehead and tripped him.
Akhiwe advanced towards him while he lay on the ground.
Limukani then stabbed him once below the abdomen using a double edged home-made knife.
Akhiwe was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals on the following day and he died on 11 October resulting in Limukani’s arrest on the following day.
According to the postmortem report, the cause of Akhiwe’s death was septicaemia and peritonitis as result of a stab wound.
Miss Dube argued that these conditions could have been caused by the delay by the hospital in giving medical attention to Akhiwe.
Online Reporter