Death row convict saved from noose at last minute

A 33-year-old man who had the hangman's noose dangling over his head could be smiling in his prison cell after the Supreme Court this week quashed his conviction and death sentence-reducing it to four years in jail.

Abel Sibanda of Cross Mabale near Dete had been convicted of murder with actual intent.

Justice Maphios Cheda, who was on circuit in Hwange in November last year had sentenced Sibanda to death by hanging.

Justice Cheda has since left the bench in Zimbabwe and is now based in Namibia.

Sibanda, a herdboy at Masikili Village accidentally struck his employer's eight months pregnant wife Virginia Mnkandla with an axe while cutting firewood resulting in her dying on the spot.

The incident occurred on 12 October 2011 at about 6am when Sibanda and Mnkandla (31) went to fetch firewood in the bush with an ox drawn cart.

In sentencing Sibanda, Justice Cheda had said there were no extenuating circumstances in that he invited Mnkandla to accompany him to fetch firewood and went on to axe her without provocation.

He had said Sibanda acted cowardly by killing a pregnant woman.

Sibanda in his defence had told the court that he missed his target which was a log.

He said the axe accidentally struck the woman on the back of the neck.

Sibanda fled from the scene in fear of what the community would do to him.

However, Justice Cheda had said his defence was full of inconsistencies.

On Tuesday, judges of appeal, Justices Elizabeth Gwaunza, Bharat Patel and Anne-Mary Gowora sitting in Bulawayo quashed the conviction and reduced the sentence to a lesser charge of culpable homicide.

The bench said if ever Sibanda had to be punished, it should be for negligence because he carelessly cut wood while Mnkandla was sitting next to him.

It was established that the sentence on Sibanda was too harsh as he accidentally struck Mnkandla with the axe.
The Supreme Court bench therefore upheld the appeal on conviction and quashed sentence.

Sibanda was then charged with culpable homicide and the death sentence was reduced to six years of which two years were suspended with conditions.

The defence counsel Miss Nonhlanhla Moyo from Advocate SKM Sibanda and Partners who represented Sibanda pro deo, said the court should not rely on assumption that her client intended to kill Mnkandla.

She said there was nothing showing that Sibanda deliberately struck his master's wife and as such the sentence was harsh and excessive.

Miss Moyo said the court erred in finding Sibanda guilty of murder with actual intent instead of culpable homicide-hence the death sentence was unfair.

Miss Nokuthaba Ngwenya prosecuting told the court that the deceased's husband, Mr Musa Moyo got worried when hours later his wife and Sibanda had not returned and he sent a neighbour to look for them.

The neighbour tracked the cart wheels and found Mnkandla's body lying in a pool of blood with a deep cut on the back of her neck.

Sibanda was later arrested in the Hwange National Park where he was found wandering about.