Lower Gweru man jailed three years for fatal assault
By Dumisani Ndlovu
A lower Gweru man, Nkosilathi Moyo from Mabaya village, Headman Mkombo under chief Bunina was recently sentenced to three years in jail for assulting three different people using a kitchen Knife on several occasions.
Gweru Magistrate Nixon Mangoti landed him the three year jail term after finding him guilty of assult at a full trial.
The 20-year-old convict who faced three counts of assault will, however, serve 2 years after 1 year was suspended on condition that he does not commit similar offence in the next five years.
Nyathi initially pleaded guilty to count one and two while denied the third count before he finally pleaded guilty to all charges during trial.
Like in a Hollywood movie horror, in one of the nastiest count of assault, tantamount to attempted murder, the accused Moyo stabbed the complainant on the right jaw and the knife stuck into the jaws and he failed to remove it, only to be later removed at the hospital.
Prosecutor Taurai Mavuto said the 16th of September 2023, at around 1100 hrs, the complainant, Bridget Sibanda were at Gondogwe mine in her tuckshop when the accused approached her and told him to serve him with sadza outside.
“The complainant told the accused to be served by her sister who was already outside, but he insisted that he wanted to be served by her. The accused got angry and struck the complainant twice on the head with a small axe he was holding and went to the next shop,” said prosecutor Mavuto.
He said the complainant sustained two cuts on the head as a result of the assault.
In count two, on the same day of 16 September 2024 at 1300hrs, the complainant, Matson Tizirai, who owns another tuckshop at Gondogwe mine found her daughter injured.
The court heard that complainant, Tizirai approached the accused and asked why he assaulted her daughter.
This did not go down well with the accused who took out an Okapi knife from his trousers pocket and stabbed the complainant twice on the left on the left hand and ran away.
The complainant sustained two cut as a results of the assaults. They were referred to hospital although no medical affidavit was yet to be availed.
On the third assault count which legal experts likened it to an attempted murder case.
As if possessed by assaulting demon, on the 16th of September 2023 at around 1300hrs the accused person came at Gondogwe mine together with two other colleagues who are at large, armed with knives, knobkerries and axes looking for Tizirai Martson whom they had assaulted before.
“After having failed to locate Tizirai at Gondogwe mine, they then charged towards Petros Madubeko who was also.
“One accused who is at large struck the accused with an empty beer bottle and he fell down. Before he woke up again, the accused Nkosilathi Moyo who had a kitchen knife stabbed him on the right jaw and the knife stuck into the jaws and he failed to remove it,” said Prosecutor Mavuto adding that the accused then ran away leaving the knife stuck in the complainant’s right jaw.
The Prosecutor added that victim was ferried to the hospital where the knife was removed. Madubeko sustained a deep cut on the right jaw as a result of the crime. He was medically examined and a medical report was not availed in the court to measure the extent of the injury.
