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Elizabeth Tsuro Midlands Reporter
A MAN annoyed by the sight of a teenager wearing saggy pants that exposed his underwear beat up and fatally stabbed the youth. Tinashe Shava, 33, from Mandava high density suburb in Zvishavane, told a court he wanted to instil good moral values in the late Albert Sibanda, 17.
He said he found the dressing, also known in modern lingo as “dropping”, highly immoral.
Justice Nokuthula Moyo of the Bulawayo High Court, sitting at the Gweru Circuit Court, yesterday convicted Shava of murder and jailed him for 20 years.
Justice Moyo bemoaned the use of violence to resolve the smallest arguments.
“The evidence produced in this court clearly showed that you negligently caused the death of the deceased. You could have just warned him about his way of dressing, not stabbing him to force him to listen to your advice,” said Justice Moyo.
The manner in which Shava acted, said the judge, prompted the courts to ask a question if people can be killed because of their way of dressing.
“You caused an unnecessary loss of life to a young boy. If he had ignored your advice, you could have left his appropriate guardians to warn him on his way of dressing. It’s for these reasons that you’re sentenced to 20 years in prison,” she said.
Prosecuting, Mirirai Shumba told the court that on September 12 last year, Sibanda went to Mandava shops with his two siblings to withdraw money from his EcoCash account.
She said the trio met Shava along the way.
“Shava demanded to know why Sibanda was wearing his trousers dropped below the waist. The boy said he dressed the way he wanted,” said Shumba.
The court heard how a livid Shava confronted the teen and missed him with a kick. Shumba said Shava fell in the process and got even angrier. She told the court that Shava’s temper reached boiling point when he again missed the youth after trying to stab him with a knife.
Shava, the prosecutor said, chased after the youth while brandishing the knife.
“After running for some distance, Sibanda tripped and fell to the ground. Shava stabbed him once in the left side of the back using an okapi knife. Sibanda was ferried to hospital where he died on admission,” said Shava.
Online Reporter