Online Reporter
Danisa Masuku
A MAN who allegedly struck his workmate twice on the head with an axe, killing him, then spent two nights sleeping with his corpse in his room has been jailed for eight years.
Butholezwe Ndlovu (31), who worked at a mine in Hope Fountain, Bulawayo, got into a heated argument with Khumbulani Sibanda (20) before the confrontation turned deadly.
Sibanda collapsed and bled to death after Ndlovu struck him with the axe.
Instead of reporting the killing, Ndlovu allegedly dragged the body into his room and slept with the corpse for two nights, before worried workmates discovered the gruesome scene.
Sibanda had failed to report for duty, prompting his colleagues and supervisors to search for him.
They eventually found his body at Ndlovu’s home and alerted the police.
During questioning by Bulawayo Homicide detectives, Ndlovu confessed to killing Sibanda, saying he had kept the body because he feared arrest.
Ndlovu appeared before Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Naison Chivhayo last Friday facing murder charges, but was convicted of culpable homicide.
He was sentenced to an effective eight years in prison.
In passing sentence, Justice Chivhayo condemned the growing violence at mining areas.
“People are turning mining areas into battlefields yet it is supposed to be an economic hub that uplifts the economy,” he said.
He added: “Some of the wayward youths are not taking life seriously as they kill willy-nilly. A life was lost yet the offender is still alive.”
