News / Regional
Man loses teeth in beer brawl
24 Jul 2012 at 06:31hrs | Views
A Nkayi man lost two teeth in a beer brawl after he was assaulted with a stick by a 17â€"year-old juvenile after they argued over who would buy the next round of beer.
This came to light on Friday when the juvenile from Sembeula, Nkayi, appeared before Nkayi resident magistrate Ndumo Masuku facing assault charges.
He was convicted on his own plea of guilty and was sentenced to undergo corporal punishment of three strokes.
In passing sentence, the court considered the juvenile's age, hence the decision to give him a non-custodial term.
"In the circumstances, the accused's violent and alcoholic behaviour is worrisome given his age.
"He certainly needs an effective deterrent sentence," Masuku said.
"However, juveniles should be spared imprisonment at all costs especially when they are first offenders and canning is appropriate in the circumstances."
Charges against the juvenile were that on Wednesday last week, he was drinking beer with the complainant, Alfred Moyo.
Moyo bought beer and the pair drank together.
However, when it was the juvenile's turn, he refused to buy the beer.
A misunderstanding arose between the two and the juvenile picked up a stick and struck Moyo once on the mouth.
Moyo broke two teeth and made a report to the police, leading to the juvenile's arrest. Also appearing before the same magistrate was another man from the
same district, who beat up a shopkeeper with a log after the latter demanded deposit money for empty opaque beer containers.
Mthulisi Dube from the Mawuwini area was convicted by Masuku of assault.
He was sentenced to four months in prison of which two months were conditionally suspended for five years.
The remaining two months were suspended on condition he completes 105 hours of community service.
Masuku said Dube was supposed to be jailed as the offence he committed by assaulting the complainant was very serious and could have led to loss of life.
However, he took into consideration that Dube suffered injuries from instant justice meted on him by Moyo's relatives.
This came to light on Friday when the juvenile from Sembeula, Nkayi, appeared before Nkayi resident magistrate Ndumo Masuku facing assault charges.
He was convicted on his own plea of guilty and was sentenced to undergo corporal punishment of three strokes.
In passing sentence, the court considered the juvenile's age, hence the decision to give him a non-custodial term.
"In the circumstances, the accused's violent and alcoholic behaviour is worrisome given his age.
"He certainly needs an effective deterrent sentence," Masuku said.
"However, juveniles should be spared imprisonment at all costs especially when they are first offenders and canning is appropriate in the circumstances."
Charges against the juvenile were that on Wednesday last week, he was drinking beer with the complainant, Alfred Moyo.
Moyo bought beer and the pair drank together.
However, when it was the juvenile's turn, he refused to buy the beer.
A misunderstanding arose between the two and the juvenile picked up a stick and struck Moyo once on the mouth.
Moyo broke two teeth and made a report to the police, leading to the juvenile's arrest. Also appearing before the same magistrate was another man from the
same district, who beat up a shopkeeper with a log after the latter demanded deposit money for empty opaque beer containers.
Mthulisi Dube from the Mawuwini area was convicted by Masuku of assault.
He was sentenced to four months in prison of which two months were conditionally suspended for five years.
The remaining two months were suspended on condition he completes 105 hours of community service.
Masuku said Dube was supposed to be jailed as the offence he committed by assaulting the complainant was very serious and could have led to loss of life.
However, he took into consideration that Dube suffered injuries from instant justice meted on him by Moyo's relatives.
Source - newsday
