Man get death sentence for murdering his father

A man from Mberengwa who in 2009 murdered his father and brother in cold blood for trying to restrain him from assaulting his sister has been sentenced to death by High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha.

Kudakwashe Mtethwa, of Chikwangwadza Village under Chief Nyamhondo, who was aged 25 years at the time of committing the crime, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder when he appeared before Justice Kamocha sitting with assessors Messrs Jameson Lex Dhlula and Wellington Takawira Matemba.

Justice Kamocha found him guilty of murder with actual intent on both counts and sentenced him to death last week on Thursday.

Kudakwashe was represented pro deo by Gweru lawyer, Ms Dorcus Shirichena, of Chitere, Chidawanyika and Partners.

The facts as presented by the State counsel Ms Diana Msipa are that on 30 January, 2009, at about 7.30 pm, Mthethwa was seated outside the kitchen hut with his father, the now deceased Meck, his younger brother Freddy, his stepmother, Mrs Marita Mtethwa and his half-sister, Charity Mtethwa.

Ms Msipa said the Mtethwas were discussing the following day's work schedule.

She said during the family discussions, a misunderstanding arose between Kudakwashe and his half-sister, Charity.

The court heard that Kudakwashe was accusing his half-sister of undermining his authority as a brother.

Kudakwashe started assaulting Charity with a sjambok and the two's father, Meck, intervened and restrained Kudakwashe from further assaulting Charity.

It was then Kudakwashe turned on his father and pushed him to the ground such that he fell on his back.

Ms Msipa said Kudakwashe went on to stab his father with a kitchen knife several times on the chest and left armpit. Charity and her mother fled from the scene.

Freddy remained behind and tried to restrain Kudakwashe, who was his elder brother, from further assaulting their father.

When Freddy tried to restrain Kudakwashe, Kudakwashe turned on his younger brother and tore open his abdomen with a knife.

When Mrs Mtethwa returned home accompanied by Mr Farison Chemai, they found both Meck and his son Freddy dead.

Kudakwashe had already left the scene of crime.

They discovered that Meck had several penetrating wounds on the chest and left armpit and Freddy's abdomen was open with intestines hanging out.

Meck was aged 66 while his son was aged 23 years when the two met their death in 2009.

Mr Chemai, who is an uncle to Kudakwshe and younger brother to the deceased Meck, Mrs Mtethwa and Charity Mtethwa, all gave evidence in court.

Kudakwashe's biological mother, Mrs Marita Mtethwa, who shares the same name with Charity's mother, also told the court during set down interviews that her son had no history of mental illness.

In his defence, Kudakwashe said on the fateful day, after retiring from the fields around 1pm, he went for a beer drink with the now deceased men.

He said the beer drink was at his uncle, Mr Farison Chemai's place.

Kudakwashe said while they were drinking beer, his sister, Charity, started jumping around where they were seated with the two deceased.

He said he sought to discipline her by beating her with a sjambok as he regarded her behaviour as disrespectful.

Kudakwashe said his father Meck intervened and assaulted him. He said his father also ordered him to stop beating his sister.

He said his younger brother Freddy joined in the fight and also started assaulting Kudakwashe.

Kudakwashe said he felt overwhelmed and stabbed his father with a knife as he did not have other means of defending himself.

He further said when his younger brother Freddy continued assaulting him he also stabbed him in the abdomen.

Kudakwashe's evidence was, however, refuted by all the three key witnesses.

Mr Chemai denied that there was a beer drink at his home while Charity, who is now 16, told the court that there were no signs that his brother was drunk on that particular day.