Kopano Olesitse
13 November 2009
Francistown — The Francistown High Court this week acquitted and discharged a Zimbabwean national, Hussein Musa, who was facing one count of murder and theft.
"There is a strong doubt that the accused committed the offence of murder because the state has failed to convict him. From the beginning of investigations, vital information was deliberately hidden in this case. I therefore see the accused (Musa) not guilty of the murder charge also not guilty of theft of a motor vehicle," Chinhengo said his verdict.
Justice Chinhengo added: "The state has failed to prove if the accused (Musa) was at Phakalane as he stated in his defence or if he was at Chwae Farm, where the murder and theft of the deceased's vehicle occured. The state also failed to prove if the accused's alibi was a straight forward lie because he maintained that on the day when the murder was committed, he was at work in Phakalane."
This is in a case in which Musa, in the company of eight other men who are currently on the run, were alleged to have murdered farmer Gerhardaus Van Deventer on April 26, 2005, at Chwae farm. The murderers are alleged to have fled from Chwae farm with Van Deventer's 4x4 vehicle, which was carrying an engine and other equipment but abandoned it in Francistown intact with its load. Chinhengo said from his findings, the murderers used the pick-up to escape not to steal it.
According to evidence before court, Van Deventer was mainly based at a certain farm in Pandamatenga but went to Chwae farm occasionally.
Chinhengo added that if Musa had participated in murdering the deceased (Van Deventer), his fingerprints could have being detected by the police from the scene of the crime since they (the police) saw different fingerprints.
The judge also quashed the evidence of one, Nora Moshabi, who stated that she witnessed the accused (Musa) in the company of others murdering the deceased.
"The police investigated this matter poorly from the start. The evidence given by Moshabi in court did not corroborate with that she gave in police statements though she said she witnessed the murder," said Chinhengo.
The Judge said even though Moshabi stated that she witnessed the murder from a house on Chwae farm, she could not even describe the clothes that the assailants, including Musa, were wearing. "Moshabi is therefore not a reliable witness and her evidence cannot be trusted. To make matters worse, she (Moshabi) ,with others who attended to the murder scene, decided to lock the deceased inside the house in Chwae farm then proceeded to report the matter to the police because they said the vehicle was not suitable to carry the deceased," outlined Chinhengo.
He said when the person is under severe injury; any vehicle is proper to transport him to the hospital. "Furthermore, Moshabi failed to identify the voice of the attackers, their body built, the way they looked and others. These features are important and do not work individually but work together. There must be correctness in the identification of suspects especially in murder cases," admonished Chinhengo.
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