The accused was arraigned before this court facing a charge of murder as defined in s47 of the Criminal Law(Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] (Hereinafter the Code)]. The allegations are that on 24 December 2018, at Chireka Village, Chief Musina in Bindura, the accused assaulted Garikai Petro with fists and booted feet on the chest with the intention to kill him or realising that there was a real risk or possibility that death may occur. More
The matter was referred to me by the Scrutinising Regional Magistrate at Masvingo.
The Regional Magistrate’s bone of contention is that the sentence imposed by the court a quo is manifestly lenient in light of the nature of the offence of robbery and that a knife was used to intimidate the complainant. Unfortunately the Regional Magistrate, besides citing certain decided cases does not proffer any suggestion as to what should be the appropriate sentence. More
Accused faces a charge of murder, it being alleged that on the 23rd of October 2020 and at Village Zinyoro, Headman Zinyoro, Chief Chirumhanzi, the accused person unlawfully caused the death of Learnmore Maphosa by striking him on the head and all over the body several times with logs intending to kill him and thereby causing his death. More
The accused is charged with murder as defined in s 47 of the Criminal Law Codification & Reform Act [Chapter 9:23]. The indictment alleges that on 23 August 2013 the accused person acting with intent strangled the deceased Dadirayi Mupaya at Shuramurove Road Mufakose, Harare, thereby starving the said Dadirayi Mupaya of breathing air resulting in her consequent death. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. More
Minimum mandatory sentences for certain crimes like stock theft are a fact of life. Sometimes they do work against common sense because in the real world there is nothing like a one-size-fits all approach to sentencing. By their very nature, mandatory sentences purposefully take away the inherent discretion of the law courts to assess such penalties as may be appropriate in any given situation. More
The accused, Fredrick Chafadza, 30, was charged with two counts. The first was the murder of Charles Kudubva, 34 [“the deceased”]. The second was the attempted murder of one Kudakwashe Musvamhuri [“Kuda”]. More
The seven accused persons have been arraigned on a charge of murder in terms of s 47(1) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act [Chapter 9:23]. They have all denied the charge by pleading not guilty. It is accused 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6’s defence that they were neither present nor participated in the commission of the offence. Accused 1 admits being part of the group which accosted and assaulted the deceased rival gang but denies being present at the time the deceased was being assaulted to death. Accused 7 does not deny his presence or his participation... More
The trial court has conceded that it misdirected itself in the manner it handled the charge that was preferred against the accused person in count one, and the manner it approached sentencing in both counts one and two. This case is almost on all fours with S v Chitepo HMA 3-17 in which some guidelines in matters involving driving offences were proffered. More
The two accused persons in this case were found guilty on their pleas of guilty to a charge of contravening section 94 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. The facts giving rise to the charge were that the accused persons pledged the complainant, their female relative, to the family of one Fredy Neruwana who was killed by Nerimonos Maguya in 1980. The complainant was pledged some time in 2005, when she was a minor, as compensation for the death of Fredy Neruwana. Paragraph 6 of the State Outline suggests that she was pledged in marriage to... More
This is an appeal against sentence imposed on the appellant following his conviction on one count of rape as defined in s 65 of the code and one count of robbery as defined in s 126 of the code. In respect of the rape count, the appellant was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. He was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment on the robbery charge.
From the total of 24 years imprisonment the court a quo suspended 5 years leaving an effective 19 years imprisonment. The suspension was on the condition that the appellant does not commit an offence of a... More
The accused appeared before the Provincial Magistrate, Mbare Magistrate Court on 24 November, 2016. He was charged with the offence of culpable homicide as defined in s 49 (a) (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform Act), [Chapter 9.23]. More
The accused pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder as defined in s 47 (1) (a) or (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. It is alleged that on 1 February 2018 and at Plot number 63, Nafaton Farm, Chipinge, the accused unlawfully caused the death of Nyashadzashe Maphosa by using unknown means and disposed the body which was later eaten by dogs intending to kill her or realising that there was a real risk or possibility that his conduct might cause death and continued to engage in that conduct despite the risk or possibility... More
The accused was convicted by the magistrate sitting at Kadoma for contravening s 70 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, [Chapter 9:23]. Section 70 (1) (a) aforesaid creates the offence of having sexual intercourse with a young person. More
: This matter is an automatic review. The record was accompanied by a letter from the presiding magistrate who convicted the accused of contravening section 49 (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act[Chapter 9:23] Culpable Homicide and contravening s 6(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act [Chapter 13:11]. The learned magistrate in regard to the Culpable Homicide count indicates that he realized that he had made a mistake in that he had misinterpreted the sketch plan which placed the point of impact in accused’s lane as opposed to his finding that the point of impact was in the complainant’s... More
