Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
A KWEKWE man has been jailed for 15 years for fatally stabbing his landlord with a knife after he stormed into his lodgings demanding unpaid rentals and sought to evict him.
The High Court, sitting in Bulawayo, found Victor Moyo guilty of killing his landlord, Prayer Banda, during a heated confrontation at a Mbizo residence in the early hours of July 5, 2021.
According to court records, Banda, the landlord at House Number 1953 Mbizo, stormed into his tenant’s room in the dead of the night, demanding that Moyo vacate the premises immediately.
Witnesses said Banda was shouting and threatening to remove Moyo by force if he failed to comply.
Tensions escalated when Banda barged into Moyo’s room, leading to a scuffle between the two men.
In the heat of the moment, Moyo drew a knife and stabbed Banda once in the chest, a wound that proved fatal.
Moyo denied the allegations, insisting that he had acted out of confusion and fear after mistaking Banda for an intruder.
He claimed he did not know that the deceased was the landlord, maintaining that he merely pushed an unknown man out of his room.
However, Justice Lucy Mungwaru, dismissed his defence as “a web of lies designed to evade responsibility.”
In her judgment, Justice Mungwaru noted that Moyo’s testimony was riddled with inconsistencies and a “troubling degree of impunity.”
She said the accused exhibited no genuine remorse throughout the trial, choosing instead to fabricate a version of events to escape accountability.
“The court observed the offender engaging in a sequence of performances, preaching to the gallery, playing the victim, and then displaying rebelliousness, all aimed at avoiding responsibility,” Justice Mungwaru said.
The deceased’s sister, Grace Banda, in her victim impact statement, lamented the irreparable loss of a beloved family member and bemoaned the lack of remorse displayed by Moyo and his family.
She urged the court to impose a stiff sentence to reflect the gravity of the offence.
While acknowledging mitigating factors surrounding the deceased’s aggressive behaviour on the night in question, the court found that the sanctity of life must always be upheld.
“People who act in the way the offender did and end up causing loss of human life must appreciate that it is not possible to escape punishment,” the judge said.
Moyo was convicted in aggravating circumstances and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the fatal stabbing.
