News / National
Zimparks 'shoot on sight' policy under scrutiny
10 Jan 2015 at 09:02hrs | Views
THE "shoot on sight" policy employed by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority is under scrutiny as an inquest into the death of two curio carvers from Victoria Falls who were shot dead in the Zambezi National Park last year opened before the resident magistrate Sharon Rosemani this week.
The summary of facts presented by the prosecutor Takunda Ndovorwi were that on the September 1 last year, at about 7PM and at Lunga Loop in the Zambezi National Park, Christopher Muleya and Isaiah Sibanda were shot and killed by a National Parks and police officers who were having a joint anti-poaching operation in the area.
The shooting occurred after the suspected poachers allegedly opened fire on the two and in a short-lived battle the carvers met their fate while their other two colleagues, including the gunner, escaped.
The courtroom, however, turned into a legal battlefield when the police officer Tererai Moyo, 27, stationed at Kazungula Police station took to the witness stand to give evidence as relatives and friends took turns to cross examine him.
The relatives of the deceased alleged that their deceased relatives were not armed and that they were looking for wood to make curios as opposed to poaching.
The police officer was at pains trying to explain to the court as to why there were no spent cartridges found on the scene of the shooting if there was indeed an exchange of fire.
"Your worship, I do not know what exactly happened to the cartridges. We looked for them but did not see any. We did not even see our own," he said while under cross-examination from Mangaliso Gibson Sibanda, a cousin to Muleya.
On being probed on what he wanted to achieve at the time of shooting, the officer said that he was at that time no longer determined to arrest the suspected poachers but instead intended to kill them for fear that they might kill him first.
"Your worship I did not want to kill these two who we are talking about today. I wanted to kill their friend who was armed. Everything happened very fast. I was defending myself," he said.
Another relative, Dlodlo Jamela, 62, who is an uncle to Sibanda, asked the officer on why he shot the deceased on the forehead if at all he did not intend to kill him.
"You shot the deceased right on the forehead and across the shoulders, as relatives, we believe that you deliberately shot at them with the intent to kill," he said.
However, the police officer insisted that he did not intend to kill the two but rather wanted to shoot one person who had a gun.
The summary of facts presented by the prosecutor Takunda Ndovorwi were that on the September 1 last year, at about 7PM and at Lunga Loop in the Zambezi National Park, Christopher Muleya and Isaiah Sibanda were shot and killed by a National Parks and police officers who were having a joint anti-poaching operation in the area.
The shooting occurred after the suspected poachers allegedly opened fire on the two and in a short-lived battle the carvers met their fate while their other two colleagues, including the gunner, escaped.
The courtroom, however, turned into a legal battlefield when the police officer Tererai Moyo, 27, stationed at Kazungula Police station took to the witness stand to give evidence as relatives and friends took turns to cross examine him.
The relatives of the deceased alleged that their deceased relatives were not armed and that they were looking for wood to make curios as opposed to poaching.
The police officer was at pains trying to explain to the court as to why there were no spent cartridges found on the scene of the shooting if there was indeed an exchange of fire.
On being probed on what he wanted to achieve at the time of shooting, the officer said that he was at that time no longer determined to arrest the suspected poachers but instead intended to kill them for fear that they might kill him first.
"Your worship I did not want to kill these two who we are talking about today. I wanted to kill their friend who was armed. Everything happened very fast. I was defending myself," he said.
Another relative, Dlodlo Jamela, 62, who is an uncle to Sibanda, asked the officer on why he shot the deceased on the forehead if at all he did not intend to kill him.
"You shot the deceased right on the forehead and across the shoulders, as relatives, we believe that you deliberately shot at them with the intent to kill," he said.
However, the police officer insisted that he did not intend to kill the two but rather wanted to shoot one person who had a gun.
Source - chronicle
