Teen gets 20 years for paralysing friend in bar fight

A 19-YEAR-OLD man from Zvishavane has been sentenced to 20 years in jail after he viciously knifed his friend at a bar, leaving him paralysed. The victim’s five-year-old son, witnessed the savage assault.A court heard that the victim, Hansi Stephen Botha (27), has since been deserted by his wife. Tawanda Shumba of Maglas Township in Zvishavane had pleaded not guilty to attempted murder when he appeared before Regional Magistrate Mr Morgan Nemadire. The magistrate sentenced Shumba to 20 years imprisonment and suspended two years on condition of good behaviour. In passing sentence Mr Nemadire said the knife attack had been cruel and unwarranted.

Attempted murder is a serious offence and one should be given a severe sentence and should not be shown any mercy.

The accused used a sharp knife to stab the complainant and had it not been that he was restrained he would have killed him. Medical reports from the doctor don’t help his case either, they show that it was a brutal attack which left the victim paralysed, Mr Nemadire said. In his defence Shumba said someone else stabbed Botha in a bar brawl. “Your Worship I’m not the one who stabbed him.

It was my friend, Peter Moyo, who stabbed him. “I was lying on the ground when it happened.

The complainant had felled me with a kick,” said Shumba. Prosecuting, Mr Kelvin Guvheya told the court that on May 10, 2014 at around 2PM, the accused and the complainant were drinking beer at Three Gem Bottle Store in Zvishavane.

“Meanwhile, the complainant’s wife, Brenda Ncube, came with the complainant’s son (5) and Shumba started to play with Botha’s son.“The complainant was not pleased with Shumba’s conduct and he told him to stop playing with his child,” said Mr Guvheya. The court heard Shumba pulled out a knife from his pocket and stabbed Botha twice in the shoulder, once in the rib and once in the back.

“The complainant sustained wounds on the shoulder, ribs and the back as a result of the assault. “The complainant was rushed to the hospital and a report was made leading to the arrest of the accused person,” said Mr Guvheya. —Chronicle.