Witchcraft row, man torches dad's goat pen

A knife-wielding injiva from Binga went berserk and attempted to stab his father whom he accused of bewitching him before torching a goat pen and a bedroom hut, a court heard yesterday.

Eight goats and two sheep were as a result burnt to death and household property worth hundreds of dollars was reduced to ashes.

The father escaped from the burning hut through a window and spent the night in a bush.

Bhekimpilo Ndlovu, 32, appeared before Binga magistrate Ailene Munamati charged with making threats of violence and malicious damage to property.

Munamati convicted Ndlovu on his own plea of guilty to the two charges.

She sentenced him to 12 months in jail for malicious damage to property.

Four months were suspended for five years on condition that he pays his father, Champion Ndlovu, $230 being the value of the eight goats and two sheep. The money is to be paid before December 31.

For making threats of violence Ndlovu was sentenced to a wholly suspended three months sentence.

In mitigation, Ndlovu told the court that he didn't know what got into him to commit the heinous crime against his father.

The magistrate hit back at him: "So you people who go to South Africa, when you come back home after being told that so and so is bewitching you, you think you can just kill a person?"

Prosecuting, Bruce Maphosa said Ndlovu arrived home from South Africa on October 27 and started accusing his father of being a wizard and causing misfortune in his life.

He said Ndlovu who was armed with a knife, locked his father in a bedroom hut as he wanted to stab him.

"Sensing danger, the frightened old man escaped through a window," said Maphosa.

"He spent the night in the bush. Ndlovu then torched a goat pen and a bedroom hut.

Villagers in Binga usually build raised huts which are balanced on poles and underneath they make a goat pen as a way of protecting the livestock from direct sun, rain and theft.