News / Regional
Man sentenced to death for axing his 82 year old neighbour to death
23 Jan 2013 at 05:16hrs | Views
A MAN from Tsholotsho, who in 2011 axed his 82-year-old neighbour to death before burying the body in a shallow grave, has been sentenced to death.
Nkanyezi Moyo (47), of Mlalangenyama Village under Chief Gampu had pleaded not guilty to killing Samson Ndobha Moyo, but was on Thursday convicted due to overwhelming evidence presented in court.
Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha sitting with Messrs Elliot Nyoni and Jongilizwe Sobantu, as assessors found Moyo guilty of murder with actual intent.
The court agreed with the defence counsel Mr Nqobani Nyathi, of the Legal Resources Foundation and State counsel Mr Lewis Maunze that there were no extenuating circumstances in the matter.
The judge said there was nothing that could be said on Moyo's behalf in extenuation because he seemed an "inherently wicked person" who killed an old man in cold blood and thereafter buried the body in a shallow grave in the riverbed.
Before the pronouncement of the sentence, Justice Kamocha asked Moyo if he had anything to say to which he maintained that he did not kill the old man and asked to be given copies of the court's proceedings.
Justice Kamocha told Moyo that he had a right to appeal against both the conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court.
Moyo and Ndobha Moyo once quarrelled after he called him a wizard, a case which was heard by Chief Gampu at his court and Moyo was sentenced to pay a goat.
On 6 August 2011 at about 12 noon, Moyo met the old man on his way back from the river where he had taken his cattle for watering.
The two had a misunderstanding over a goat and Moyo dispossessed Ndobha Moyo of his axe and struck him several times on the head and once on the back.
Upon realising that he had killed Ndobha Moyo, Moyo dragged the body into a nearby bush where he buried it in a shallow grave in the riverbed.
Moyo then hid the bloodstained axe and its broken handle and right gumboot in an anthill.
The left gumboot was recovered in the bush.
In the evening, the old man's family upon realising that he had not returned informed other villagers, who started looking for him.
After two days, the search team noticed footprints and a trail of blood, which they followed and led them to the shallow grave.
A report was made to police and officers from Plumtree Police Station attended the scene on 9 August.
The body was exhumed and then taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for postmortem.
Moyo was arrested after police got information that he had a long-standing dispute with the old man and he testified that he had struck the old man with an axe.
Nkanyezi Moyo (47), of Mlalangenyama Village under Chief Gampu had pleaded not guilty to killing Samson Ndobha Moyo, but was on Thursday convicted due to overwhelming evidence presented in court.
Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha sitting with Messrs Elliot Nyoni and Jongilizwe Sobantu, as assessors found Moyo guilty of murder with actual intent.
The court agreed with the defence counsel Mr Nqobani Nyathi, of the Legal Resources Foundation and State counsel Mr Lewis Maunze that there were no extenuating circumstances in the matter.
The judge said there was nothing that could be said on Moyo's behalf in extenuation because he seemed an "inherently wicked person" who killed an old man in cold blood and thereafter buried the body in a shallow grave in the riverbed.
Before the pronouncement of the sentence, Justice Kamocha asked Moyo if he had anything to say to which he maintained that he did not kill the old man and asked to be given copies of the court's proceedings.
Justice Kamocha told Moyo that he had a right to appeal against both the conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court.
Moyo and Ndobha Moyo once quarrelled after he called him a wizard, a case which was heard by Chief Gampu at his court and Moyo was sentenced to pay a goat.
On 6 August 2011 at about 12 noon, Moyo met the old man on his way back from the river where he had taken his cattle for watering.
The two had a misunderstanding over a goat and Moyo dispossessed Ndobha Moyo of his axe and struck him several times on the head and once on the back.
Upon realising that he had killed Ndobha Moyo, Moyo dragged the body into a nearby bush where he buried it in a shallow grave in the riverbed.
Moyo then hid the bloodstained axe and its broken handle and right gumboot in an anthill.
The left gumboot was recovered in the bush.
In the evening, the old man's family upon realising that he had not returned informed other villagers, who started looking for him.
After two days, the search team noticed footprints and a trail of blood, which they followed and led them to the shallow grave.
A report was made to police and officers from Plumtree Police Station attended the scene on 9 August.
The body was exhumed and then taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for postmortem.
Moyo was arrested after police got information that he had a long-standing dispute with the old man and he testified that he had struck the old man with an axe.
Source - TC
