Fact: the World, and to be exact Planet Earth is just but, one gothic, brutal arena!
And, in an incident which practically testifies the aforesaid adage, a dispute over who was supposed to buy the next round of beers amongst imbibers at some drinking hole in rural Gwanda, southern Zimbabwe, resulted in the brutal murder of one male villager.
This comes after a 29-year old Gwanda man was not asked to plead guilty in a brief appearance before resident magistrate Lerato Nyathi, charged with murder, after he fatally stabbed a colleague following a mere beer dispute.
Prosecutor Ethel Mahachi told the court that Khumbulani Sibanda of Zelezele Village in Guyu and the now deceased Prince Moyo were drinking beer with friends at Takaliyawa Business Centre when a misunderstanding erupted over whose turn it was to buy beer.
Mahachi said Moyo pointed out that it was Sibanda’s turn to fork out from his pocket and buy the beers since he had bought the least number of times compared to other imbibing colleagues in their company.
“The group then turned on Sibanda and pressured him to buy more beer for them as he was just drinking without contributing any more. This didn’t go down well with Sibanda who denied that it was his turn to buy more beer. Sibanda turned on Moyo and they started arguing,” submitted Mahachi.
As the wrangling ensued, Sibanda subsequently produced an okapi knife and stabbed Moyo twice on his chest. Their friends then intervened and stopped Sibanda from further stabbing Moyo.
The accused murderer allegedly fled from the scene while Moyo, who was rushed to the nearest clinic was confirmed dead upon arrival.
The matter was then reported to the police and investigations conducted led to Sibanda’s eventual arrest.
The court also heard that a blood-stained knife which is suspected to have been used to commit the offence was discovered in the house of the accused person, together with blood stained clothes.
Sibanda was remanded in custody to 24 July.
state media
Additional Reporting: Zwnews
