- – …as prosecution fail to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt
Chief Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe has acquitted and discharged 35-year-old Ntando Moyo from Lupane, Zimbabwe who had been incarcerated for the past five years accused of manslaughter.
This is after the State failed to prove there was any animosity and malice that would have caused Moyo to assault the now deceased, Raburu Maebe, on the hot afternoon of May 14 2021, out in the lands of Gulushabe, on the outskirts of Tonota.
“The evidence in this case does not support any suggestion there was any acrimony between the accused and the deceased. All the witnesses who saw them leave together, stated that they were walking side by side, with the deceased having left voluntarily,” pointed out Chief Justice Ketlogetswe.
He concluded that the prosecution has not been successful in proving the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt and that he is therefore entitled to a verdict of not guilty.
Chief Justice Ketlogetswe said Maebe died from bleeding within the brain, and that could have been a result of him having hit his head against a rock.
“He was found lying down supine, and given that the deceased also died from aspiration syndrome, which could have been a result of him being choked by his own vomit. He died as a result of no conduct or omission of the accused,” added Ketlogetswe.
Moyo’s entanglement in the alleged death of Maebe, began on a hot May afternoon, when he had arrived from Francistown with a plastic bag full of groceries. He then headed to a tuckshop in his neighbourhood to buy a bag of mealie meal. Before entering the yard to buying the mealie meal, Moyo hung his plastic bag full of groceries on a branch of a Mophane tree, outside Mpho Daniel (owner of the tuckshop)’s yard.
According to Daniel, she had seen both the accused and deceased on the fateful day.
When Moyo got out of the yard he found the plastic bag missing from where he had hung it. Upon enquiring from the people who were drinking some traditional beer in the yard next door, he was told Maebe had taken it. Moyo then followed Maebe into Daniel’s yard.
“According to Daniel, when the accused re-entered her yard and enquired about his missing plastic bag, he held the deceased by the hand and they both left, walking hand in hand. According to her, there was no acrimony between the two. They seemed to have left together, with the deceased leaving voluntarily in the company of the accused,” narrated Chief Justice in his ruling.
Another witness, Goitsemodimo Busumane said he was with Maebe when they saw the plastic bag of groceries hanging from a tree. Busumane added that it was the deceased who instructed him to take the groceries and hide them away before continuing with their journey home. While at home, Moyo arrived and took Maebe by the hand and stood outside just the two of them.
During cross examination, Busumane was cagey and not willing to disclose what transpired between the two men, while outside.
Later the two men were seen walking together, by Mpho Daniel’s grandson as he was looking for his donkeys. After finding the donkeys, on his way home the young man stumbled on Maebe lying unconscious on rocky ground under the hot sun with his face and mouth covered in soil, while his clothes soaked in chibuku shake shake.
“The accused was drunk and clearly walking on a rocky area. There is no evidence of blunt force which could suggest that maybe the deceased was assaulted. There is no evidence to suggest that the accused was aware the deceased was injured,” concluded the Chief Justice.
