A CHITUNGWIZA man, who allegedly killed his nephew in cold blood after suspecting him of stealing his radio speaker, has been jailed 20 years.
High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi ruled that the murder of Robert Nyatsine by Owen Katsande and his accomplices who are still at large was premeditated and senseless.
According to court documents, Katsande lost his speaker, a musical instrument at his home in Chitungwiza, and he teamed up with his friends to hunt down suspected thieves.
Katsande and his friends rounded up a number of people including the deceased and tortured them.
The court heard that the suspects assaulted Nyatsine the whole night until he died.
Katsande was initially charged together with his brother Farai who was later acquitted.
In his defence, Katsande alleged that the deceased came to his place of residence seeking refuge after he was assaulted by unknown persons at a beerhall.
Katsande said he provided the deceased with a place to sleep but unfortunately he died the following morning.
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Justice Mutevedzi dismissed his defence and convicted him.
"The offender went to the police not out of respect for the sacredness of human life or because he was contrite. When he got there, he deliberately withheld the truth from the police,” the judge said.
“A remorseful person is one who owns up to his wrongdoing and takes responsibility for what would have happened.
"The offender did not. Instead, he chose to deflect responsibility from himself and led the police on a wild goose chase by telling them that the deceased had been assaulted by unknown assailants at a beerhall at Chikwanha shops.”
The judge said the convict once went into hiding.
“He only resurfaced a year later. His arrest was as fortuitous as they can be. The police identified him as a suspect for this murder after he had been detained for public drinking. It would be irresponsible of us to credit the offender with anything in such circumstances,” the judge said.
“What the offender did after the murder beats us. He disappeared from the scene completely. He did not even attend the deceased’s funeral although the police had not yet profiled him as one of the suspects in the murder,” the judge said.
“He was only apprehended a year later. It does not speak to the contrition card which his counsel attempted to play at the start of his submissions in mitigation.”
