Danisa Masuku Court Reporter
TWO men who attacked a couple at Pelandaba Cemetery in Bulawayo, killing the husband and attempting to rape his wife, have been jailed for a combined 75 years.
Nkosilathi Nyathi (34) of Mabutweni suburb and Walter Mpunzi (35) of Lobengula West suburb, were yesterday convicted of murder, attempted murder and attempted rape by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi.
In sentencing the pair, Justice Mutevedzi condemned their conduct as barbaric.
“You confronted the couple, grabbed the woman before tearing her undergarments as you attempted to rape her. You also stabbed the complainant’s husband to death after you wrestled him while looking for money, which was barbaric,” said Justice Mutevedzi.
He said although the State had sought life imprisonment because of the aggravating circumstances surrounding the offences, the court had taken the offenders’ backgrounds into consideration when determining their sentences.
Nyathi was sentenced to 40 years in prison while Mpunzi was jailed for 35 years.
Their alleged accomplice, Nkosikhona Sibanda, who had faced the same charges, was acquitted after the court found that the State had failed to prove his involvement.
The Stae case was that on May 12, 2021, at about 5.20PM, the couple was walking along a bushy footpath through Pelandaba Cemetery when they were confronted by the accused who were armed
with an axe, a knobkerrie and a knife.
The attackers demanded money and cellphones, but the husband told them that the couple had left their cash and phones at home and had only a torch.
The response angered the assailants, who attacked the man with a knobkerrie before stabbing him under the left armpit and in the left eye. They also struck him on the forehead with an axe,
inflicting a deep cut.
As one attacker continued assaulting the husband, another dragged his wife into nearby bushes, where he stabbed her in the back and tore her underwear with a knife in an attempt to rape her.
The assailants fled, leaving the husband seriously injured and his wife bleeding.
The woman managed to walk home and alert neighbours, who accompanied her back to the cemetery to help her husband. He was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital, where he died upon admission.
