Dudu Manhenga escapes prison, to pay $1,000 fine

The High Court has today quashed the 18 months prison term imposed on Jazz musician Duduzile Tracy Manhenga, who was slapped with an 18-month jail term for culpable homicide.

She will now pay $1000 fine.

A Harare magistrate found Dudu guilty of causing the death of a motorcyclist Mr Graham Martin Millward while driving without a licence and slapped her with an 18-month jail term for culpable homicide.

Through her lawyer, Isaiah Mureriwa of Scanlen and Holderness, Dudu appealed against the sentence at the High Court.

Dudu committed the offence on March 15, 2010, but was jailed on October 11 last year after pleading guilty to culpable homicide.

She was also fined $300 or three months in prison for driving without supervision.

The 34-year-old was charged with culpable homicide and driving without a licence after investigators concluded she had driven without due care.

The court heard that Manhenga only had a provisional driver's licence when she crashed into Mr Millward along Sherwood Drive in Mabelreign, Harare.

Manhenga is said to have failed to give way to Millward as she turned right into the driveway of a residential property in her Toyota Spacio vehicle.

Millward suffered injuries and died on admission to West End Hospital.

It was Dudu's argument that the magistrate erred in finding her to be grossly negligent without making a factual inquiry into the circumstances in which the accident occurred.

She also argued that the lower court incorrectly concluded that she was grossly negligent because she simply turned right onto the path occupied by the cyclist.

Dudu argued that the court should have found her to be ordinarily negligent thereby imposing a lighter sentence on her.