NEW: Shop owners jailed 15 years each for murdering suspected thief

Nyore Madzianike

THREE Bulawayo shop owners who were convicted of fatally assaulting a man who is suspected to have stolen a speaker will each serve 15 years in jail after losing a Supreme Court appeal against the conviction.

A Bulawayo High Court judge sentenced Norman Tapera, Simon Tapera and Collen Mukombwe after he found them guilty of killing Tonderai Doka.

The trio appealed against the judgment at the Supreme Court. They said the State had failed to prove its case.

After going through the grounds of appeal, Supreme Court judges Deputy Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza, Justice Samuel Kudya and Justice Joseph Musakwa dismissed the petition, saying the trio acted in common purpose when they murdered Doka.

The judges said the severity of the injuries inflicted on Doka and the circumstances of the assault warranted a 15-year jail term.

It was the State’s case that on January 31, 2022, the trio took Doka to Lucky Five Supplies at Entumbane Complex, Bulawayo, and severely assaulted him.

Thereafter, they handcuffed and drove him to his mother, Patricia Doka’s residence, where they told her that he had stolen a speaker from their shop.

The trio searched the mother’s place, but failed to locate the speaker. They then proceeded to his house where they also failed to find the speaker.

They returned to his mother’s place and continued to assault him, kicking and stomping his ribs.

Doka was taken to Mpilo Hospital where he died on February 7, 2022.