The accused was arrested and the Magistrate ordered that he be examined by two doctors in terms of s26 of the Mental Health Act. He was found to be mentally challenged. The background as set out by the psychiatric nurse Christopher Njanjeni is that the accused was not well since 2004. He received treatment for mental illness. His deceased father would accompany him for medical treatment. The accused would experience visual and auditory hallucinations. He later defaulted treatment. His deceased father took him for treatment at some church where a prophet assisted him. At this stage he had stopped taking... More
The allegations are that on the 1st of April 2018, the accused shot and caused the death of one Edmore Phiri. He appeared before us facing a charge of murder in contravention of s47 (1) of the Criminal Code. The accused denied the charge. He said he had no intention to cause the death of the deceased but to arrest him. He suspected that the deceased must have been hit by a bullet that had ricocheted. More
The accused person Cliff Churu was arrested and arraigned for the murder of his colleague and house mate Richmore Gomo. A statement of agreed facts was tendered as the counsels from both sides had plea bargained for a lesser charge of culpable homicide. The court found it proper as firstly the State is dominus litus in the sense that if its evidence cannot sustain a conviction in the main charge a plea-bargaining route may be the best course of action. More
A fourteen-year-old boy was sentenced to an effective 5-year imprisonment term. He had been convicted of rape in terms of section 64 (1) as read with section 65 (1) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act [Chapter 9:23]. It is alleged that he had raped a minor girl aged four years at the time of the commission of the offence. The minor had visited the accused’s room looking for her friend. Reportedly, accused took advantage of the child, dragged and placed her on a sofa and committed some indecent acts through her anal organ, before raping her. More
This is a matter involving a fight amongst small scale illegal gold panners over gold ore. Always common in these fights is the use of sharp knives with fatal consequences. What has emerged from this saga is that the accused and his friend Tauya Chitembetembe arrived at a gold hammermill at Glassgow Compound, Kadoma, on the 3rd of March 2022 to toast their gold ore. Upon arrival they found the deceased already processing his own gold ore in the company of several others. This area is housed within some building and divided by a thatched hedge. One side is where... More
