Conrad Mupesa — A Chegutu artisanal miner has been jailed for 25 years after he teamed up with his two friends to murder a fellow miner whom he accused of having snatched his wife.
The man, Kudakwashe Maposa, was jailed 25 years by the Chinhoyi High Court Judge, Justice Catherine Bhachi-Muzawazi last week and will serve the whole sentence.
He was facing murder charges after having stabbed Tatenda Malunga to death last year.
In her ruling Justice Bachi-Muzawazi said that the deceased was butchered was an understatement given the picture portrayed by the autopsy report admitted into evidence by consent. Malunga's vital organs, the heart and lungs, were lacerated according to the autopsy. The convict's accomplice, Integrity Nguruve, who was briefly arrested in connection with murder before he was released on bail, is still in hiding after he absconded. Another suspect, Tinotenda Bosha, is still on the run.
According to court papers, on December 26, 2023, Malunga was walking home with his friend Courage Mudzitiri when they came across the accused persons who were inside a parked vehicle.
The suspects ,with Maposa holding an axe, confronted Malunga and his friend accusing him of snatching other peoples' wives. The deceased refused to kneel when he and his friend were ordered to do so by the convict and his acomplices. They then assaulted him for refusing to sit down.
Maposa also produced a knife with which he mercilessly stabbed the deceased all over the body. The court further heard that the deceased begged and pleaded with the gang, to no avail.
Nguruve, the court was told, stabbed the deceased twice on the chest and once on the right side of the hip with a Columbian knife before they fled from the scene.
The deceased was rushed to Chegutu Hospital where he died upon admission. The convict was arrested this year on April 17, and eight State witnesses testified against him in Court.
Maposa, in his defence said, Malunga had snatched his wife.
"He claims to have been the wronged party, with his wife having been stolen by the deceased. His bitterness effervesced to his friends. His friends were fighting his cause and his battle. Bosha provoked the situation on Maposa's behalf. The whole fight was as a result of Maposa.
"He thus, cannot distance himself from the consequences of his and his friends' concerted efforts of vengeance."
"Any reasonable person would have subjectively foreseen that teaming up on a single person and assaulting him with lethal weapons all over his body, death would reasonably be an inevitable consequence," the judge ruled.
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"The murder was done in aggravating circumstances given the callous and heinous frenzied knife attacks. In sentencing the accused, we have weighed the submissions made in mitigation against the victim impact statement.
"A clear message should be sent to all those in illegal mining enterprises who take the law into their hands through the possession and use of prohibited knives. It should be made loud and clear that no one is allowed to take law into their hands, assault and kill any other human being."
A post mortem report, affidavits from mortuary attendants and doctors, sketch plans and indications from investigators were produced in court.
