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Midlands Bureau Chief
A FOOTBALL team coach who killed an assistant referee for flagging his team offside was beginning a 23-year jail sentence yesterday.
Onismo Muruvi Fichani, 32, of Ndaruza Village in Gokwe South, struck Isaac Mbofana, 33, on the head with a log, killing him instantly.Mirirai Shumba, prosecuting, said Mbofana was an assistant referee for the social football match played at Joboringo Primary School in Ndaruza Village under Chief Nemangwe on October 18, 2012, when emotions boiled over after Fichani’s team, Tank 3, scored a controversial goal.
Fichani was angry that Mbofana raised his flag.
Mbofana was overruled by the referee who allowed the goal to stand, and Tank 3 went on to beat Hotline 2-1, the High Court heard in Gweru.
But Fichani was still seething at the full-time whistle. He chased down Mbofana and delivered the fatal blow to the head as the referee walked home with his brother, Penias.
Fichani had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Isaac Mbofana but Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva, on circuit in Gweru, found Fichani guilty of murder with actual intent.
Justice Takuva found extenuating circumstances in that Fichani was drunk during the time he committed the crime, which also took place in an atmosphere of general fighting. There was a mass brawl after the match.
The court also considered that Fichani was hit by a stone in the skirmishes, and this could have caused him to seek revenge.
Justice Takuva told Fichani during sentencing: “You made the task of the court difficult by first denying the evidence presented by State witnesses and giving contradicting evidence.
“You told the court that you aimed the log at the deceased man’s arms but ended up hitting his head. If you had really aimed at his arms, you could have hit the stretched hands or missed the victim completely.
“It’s apparent that when you assaulted the deceased, you were not acting in self defence or trying to protect your brother. You just wanted to fix the deceased for raising his flag signalling an off-side goal.”
Justice Takuva said Fichani’s evidence was inconsistent, while the State witnesses gave evidence consistent with what often transpires in situations similar to those leading to the death of Mbofana.
The judge said he found it hard to believe Fichani’s claims that he had not seen the controversial second goal being scored.
Said Justice Takuva: “Scoring a goal is the climax of a soccer match. For a coach to say he didn’t witness the goal becomes suspicious and renders the evidence dismissible, more so if the goal scored is controversial.”
Fichani should have been sentenced on Monday, but the judge waited for more facts after the defence claimed that Mbofana’s family had accepted compensation. But the referee’s father, Misheck Mbofana, refuted the claim.
“This was not compensation,” Mbofana said, referring to a cow that was slaughtered at the burial. “The beast was meant to feed the many people who attended my son’s funeral. I felt that the courts should be allowed to do their part first and probably have Fichani’s family engaging us on ways of compensating the death of my son.”
The 61-year old peasant farmer from Gokwe South cut a forlorn figure as he sat outside the courts soon after sentencing.
“Isaac was my second born and he left behind three children, all minors. The eldest is a boy in Grade Three while the second child, a girl, is in pre-school. The last born is also a girl aged only four years old. I don’t even know the whereabouts of the mother as she left some time ago saying she was going job-hunting,” he said.
Online Reporter