The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
THE trial of a man who allegedly fatally stabbed Zanu-PF member and Nyamandlovu farmer Cde Steward Sweet Sweet with a screw driver before shooting him on the head two years got off to a false start once again as the defence wants a pathologist to testify in the matter.
Cde Sweet Sweet’s body was found in a car with a C2 pistol in his right hand while he had stab wounds on the head and bleeding from the left ear in March 2019 in Nyamandlovu commercial farming area.
It is suspected that the killers may have allegedly used the deceased’s personal pistol to shoot him to make it appear as if he had committed suicide, but defence lawyer Mr Elvis Mashindi of Mashindi and Associates has argued against it saying there were no gunshot wounds on the body.
The lawyer wants a pathologist to testify in court and Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese who was on circuit in Hwange last week rolled the case over to the next circuit to allow the State to invite a pathologist.
The alleged attacker Martin Chipande (38) of Number 15 Vusanani Cooperative, Umguzane Farm in Umguza has been in custody since his arrest in 2019 as the trial has failed to take off during successive circuit sittings.
He unsuccessfully applied for bail last year when he had claimed his two minor children were alone after his wife passed on.
In November 2019, Chipande was not tried because of limited time and the case was rolled over to 2020 when trial also failed to kick off.
Cde Sweet Sweet, a Nyamandlovu farmer, was 56 when he was allegedly killed about three kilometres away from his farm in Nyamandlovu before passersby discovered his body.
He had visited Chipande’s place of residence during the day on 26 March 2019 to collect a debt which the accused owed him.
He allegedly returned at night intending to see the accused’s stepdaughter Beatrice Moyo who was aged 18 when a misunderstanding ensued as Chipande accused him of being a thief, resulting in the murder.
Allegations against Chipande are that on 26 March 2019 at night he stabbed Cde Sweet Sweet severally on the head with a screw driver following a dispute in which he accused the now deceased of being a thief.
It is alleged that Cde Sweet Sweet had entered Ms Moyo’s bedroom when Chipande confronted him.
The deceased left going to his farm and Chipande allegedly mobilised some neighbours Mr Soul Dube and Mr Ngqabutho Nyoni as they followed him intending to beat him up. Cde Sweet Sweet was then found dead in the morning.-@ncubeleon
