adminMashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
A MAN from Lupane allegedly killed his workmate before he fled from the scene, leaving the body in a bush near Matopos National Park where it was devoured by hyenas, a High Court judge has heard.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo heard this when Godfrey Mlalazi (41) of Sishane Village 4 appeared before her facing a murder charge in connection with the death of Mr Thabani Ncube (41) in December 2014.
Justice Moyo deferred the matter to October 24 for judgment.
Mlalazi allegedly struck Ncube with a knobkerrie on the head and the decomposed body was discovered a week later by a search party comprising villagers and police.
Prosecuting, Mr Thompson Hove said on December 8, 2014, at about 11pm, Mr Ncube, Mlalazi, Nkosiyazi Ngwenya and Knowledge Mathwasa were coming from a beer drink at Wild East Farm in Kezi.
The court heard that when the quartet reached Plot Number 19, Ngwenya and Mathwasa parted ways with Mlalazi and Mr Ncube.
A few minutes later, Mr Ncube and Mlalazi started quarrelling.
Mlalazi allegedly accused the deceased of reporting him to the police for assaulting Mathwasa the previous day.
The quarrel degenerated into a scuffle and the noise attracted the attention of Ngwenya and Mathwasa who returned to the scene and found the two men fighting.
Mr Ncube, who appeared to be on the receiving end, tried to flee but Mlalazi caught up with him and struck him on the back of his head with a knobkerrie.
Mr Ncube allegedly collapsed after running for a short distance.
“Mlalazi fled from the scene together with Ngwenya and Mathwasa and left Ncube lying unconscious on the ground until he later died,” said Mr Hove.
Mr Ncube’s remains were discovered on December 16 by villagers and police. The remains were in a state of decomposition. Some body parts were missing after they were eaten by hyenas.
One of the witnesses, Mr Themba Dube, who was Mr Ncube’s neighbour, said he last saw him while in the company of Mlalazi, Ngwenya and Mathwasa drinking beer at Wild East Farm.
“I saw the four leaving Wild East Far together and after about four days I heard that the deceased was missing and I joined a search party to look for him. We discovered his remains after eight days and some parts had been eaten by wild animals since we discovered spoors of hyenas at the spot,” he said.
The investigating officer, Chelaude Kimu, said when they arrived at the scene, they found the remains strewn in a bushy area about 50 metres from the road.
“The remains were partly eaten by wild animals as evidenced by tracks of hyenas. One of Ncube’s relatives, who was also part of the search team, positively identified the deceased by his clothes,” he said.
Kimu said Mlalazi, Ngwenya and Mathwasa led police to the scene for indications where a knobkerrie allegedly used in the commission of the crime was found.
Postmortem results show that the heart, tongue, blood vessels, trachea, mouth, generative organs, kidneys, liver, bladder, intestines and other stomach contents were missing.
Mlalazi through his lawyer, Mr Sifelani Mlambo, admitted that he assaulted Mr Ncube following a dispute, but declined that he caused his death.
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