Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
DEPUTY Chief Justice Elizabeth Gwaunza and Justices Lavender Makoni and Samuel Kudya will tomorrow hear Esigodini gold dealer Baron Dube’s appeal against conviction and sentence during the Supreme Court circuit in Bulawayo.
Dube (46) was released on $30 000 bail pending appeal filed under case number SCB57/21 by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese in December last year. He was ordered to surrender his travel documents as part of bail conditions.
Dube of Habane Extension was also ordered to continue residing at his given address until the matter is finalised.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to an effective 10 years in jail by Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Maxwell Takuva in November 2020 in connection with the death of Prince Antony Bvundura in September 2018.
Dube shot Bvundura, a member of a rival mining gang in Esigodini, with a Voere 458 calibre rifle in the heat of a fight over a mining claim at Block 13 Atlas Mine in Esigodini.
Bvundura was aged 22 at the time of his death.
In his grounds of appeal, through his lawyer Mr Leopold Mudisi of Mutendi, Mudisi and Shumba Legal Practitioners, Dube said there was insufficient evidence to justify his conviction.
He argued that the firearm accidentally discharged after he stepped on a rock and fell while fleeing from a mob, which was throwing stones at him, baying for his blood.
Dube said the court erred by making a finding that his version of events of an accidental discharge of firearm was false.
“The wound found on the deceased was consistent with a projectile from a revolver. The revolver can accidentally discharge if it hits a hard surface, which is in line with my evidence that the revolver accidentally discharged,” he said.
Dube said the court erred by cross-examining him extensively instead of questioning to establish certain facts.
“The whole process was inquisitorial instead of accusatory, that is to say the court descended into the arena to my prejudice thus rendering the trial unfair. The court erred at law by convicting me on a single witness evidence notwithstanding inconsistencies in his testimony, thereby watering down the strength of the State’s case,” he argued.
Dube said the sentence imposed on him was excessive and induced a sense of shock.
“Wherefore, I pray that the appeal succeeds and that the judgment of the court a quo is set aside,” he said.
According to court papers, on September 26, 2018, Bvundura went to work at Block 13 Atlas Mine in Esigodini in the company of his workmates.
On the fateful day, Dube arranged a gang of about 20 people to disperse everyone and take over the mine where there was a gold rush.
At about 11PM, Dube armed himself with two guns, a revolver and a rifle and his accomplices were carrying machetes, axes, shovels and picks.
He drove to the mine in his Toyota Land Cruiser with his gang and on arrival at the mine, he chased away all miners, claiming he had been granted authority to operate at the mine by the owner, one Mr Tendai Musanangura.
Bvundura, who was part of a group of miners fleeing during the skirmishes, was shot and died on the spot.
According to post-mortem results, the cause of death was a gunshot wound, heart destruction and hypovolemic shock. — @mashnets
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