Pair jailed for chopping off man's leg

TWO men who made several trips to the court for brutally attacking a fellow villager and chopping off his leg over US$6 have each been sentenced to serve 10 years in jail.

Sibanengi Ncube (21) and Julius Maromo (40) from Fort Rixon in Matabeleland South Province made their last appearance in court last Thursday before Bulawayo regional magistrate Dambudzo Malunga facing an attempted murder charge.

The magistrate convicted and sentenced them to 10 years each in jail. In passing the sentence, the magistrate said the pair callously committed the crime. She said it was by God's grace that Listen Rusimba did not die after he was mercilessly attacked and spent six months in a coma at a hospital.

The magistrate branded Ncube and his partner in crime barbaric, cruel, and heartless stating that the pair left Rusimba with one leg and unable to work for his family.

"You deserve punishment because what you did to Rusimba sends a chilling spine down a normal human being's spine. You brutally attacked him and I can safely say he survived by God's grace. If the gun had not jammed after you (Maromo) shot at him, he could have died. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is ten years, in that regard, I will slap you with a ten-year jail sentence," she said.

She said Maromo and Ncube's defence was vague and poor and they acted in common purpose to commit the crime. After the sentence, Rusimba's wife Memory Mukwidza who is facing a grim future after the brutal attack which left her husband incapacitated said: "To me, 10 years in jail is too little. My husband now cannot fend for our four school-going children and I'm afraid all the property and livestock we are selling will get finished up and that will plunge us into destitution. After that, I don't know how we will survive."

Rusimba said: "They wanted to kill me and I thank the Almighty God that I managed to survive. The sad thing is that now I cannot fend for my family. Now it's like I'm a dead man walking."

The court heard that Ncube and Maromo from Fort Rixon in Matabeleland South Province heartlessly attacked Rusimba with a machete and a knobkerrie all over the body over US$6 that Rusimba owed them for game meat.

Rusimba, who spent one year and six months at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) was left with a gaping scar on his head, an amputated leg, and a recurring tumour after they shoved rubble into his mouth so that he could not scream for help when they were brutally attacking him.