The Sunday News
Fairness Moyana
A 28-YEAR-OLD knife-wielding Nyamandlovu man who killed a bystander in a fit of rage after his prime target had eluded him following a misunderstanding over a snooker ball, escaped the death penalty by a whisker when he was sentenced to 28 years after being convicted of murder with actual intent.Limukani Sibanda of Crews Farm compound in Nyamandlovu had his guilty plea for a lesser charge of culpable homicide thrown out after the State opposed the application when he appeared before High court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha during the third term of the Hwange High Court circuit last week.
Justice Kamocha said though there were extenuating circumstances such as the level of drunkenness during commission of the offence, Sibanda’s 11-month pre-trial incarceration was the only factor that was in his favour.
“This court finds you guilty of murder with actual intent. However, the court accepts that there were extenuating circumstances such as intoxication which he did voluntarily. The only thing I can say is in your favour is that you have been in remand for close to a year which I’m taking into account by deducting a year from your sentence,” said Justice Kamocha.
“The court heard that on 1 December 2013 and at Dalana Secid bottle store in Nyamandlovu, Sibanda, who was in the company of Ishmael Moyo, had a misunderstanding with Mvelo Ncube over a snooker ball. They resolved the matter before Sibanda and his friends left the bottle store.
“A while later that night they met Bhekimpilo Mpofu, Mvelo Ncube and Mzimazisi Sibanda. Ishmael Moyo started assaulting Ncube with fists and booted feet all over the body. Mpofu tried to restrain the accused from assaulting Ncube and that is when Ncube seized the opportunity to escape. Mpofu then ran away towards his homestead with Sibanda in pursuit armed with an Okapi knife,” prosecuted Ms Memory Munsaka.
She said Mpofu was later found lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound on his right side of the ribs by his wife Sinqobile Moyo. He was rushed to Mpilo hospital but died on arrival due to the extent of his injuries.
The State’s key witness, Ncube, gave a vivid picture of the events of that fateful night stating that earlier in the day he was playing snooker with Mpofu when Sibanda approached them in the company of Moyo. His testimony also dismissed facts that Mpofu was stabbed accidentally while trying to restrain Sibanda from assaulting Ncube.
“Ishmael then took one of the balls we were using to play and sank it whereupon I demanded to know why he had done that before asking him to give me five rand to purchase another token. He refused and we then left it as it was. Later that night as we were retiring home at around midnight we came across Limukani near a railway line who began assaulting me without saying a word while Bheki (Mpofu) stood a metre away watching,” narrated Ncube.
Ncube said he was lucky to have escaped that day as Sibanda was bent on killing him. “When he narrowly missed me with an Okapi after he ducked resulting in the knife stabbing his jacket I fled for dear life leaving the now deceased standing there.
“I only learnt with shock of what had happened the following morning when I was told that Bheki had been stabbed and had died. I had no idea that when I fled the scene Limukani turned on the victim who was just standing,” Ncube said.
In his defence, Sibanda gave the courts three different versions of what transpired before disowning a defence outline he had given his lawyer, Mrs Dorothy Zihove of Mashindi and Associates, citing language barrier in their preparation of the defence case. He further refuted a warned and cautioned statement he gave to police following his arrest arguing that they had not written what he said.
He argued that he had stabbed Mpofu accidentally after he came between him and Ncube while intending to strike Ncube, whom he alleged was also armed with a knife.
The court heard that the okapi knife used by Sibanda, which is a specified weapon, penetrated 5cm into Mpofu’s body before going another 6cm into the liver, puncturing it as a result of the severe force used to deliver the blow, causing massive internal bleeding which led to his death.
Passing his sentence, Justice Kamocha described Sibanda’s actions as cold blooded as he had attacked a defenceless bystander after his failing to stab his intended victim who had fled and that his defence which was inconsistent was a result of afterthought.
“You killed the deceased who was a bystander and posed no danger to you for no reason. You appeared to have been on a stabbing rage that day, having failed to stab Mvelo you turned on the deceased who did not even intervene when you were attacking the witness (Ncube). Matters of this nature are on the increase and it is people of your age who use knives at the slightest misunderstanding, hence the court has to discourage this practice by passing an appropriate sentence of 29 years.”
