Harare, (New Ziana) – Two siblings have been imprisoned for 10 years each for slaughtering a brother’s ox for a funeral at the latter’s homestead without his consent.

Rassson Hove, (38) and Moses Mudzingwa (31) from Mangunye Village will however serve an effective nine years in jail each after the Gweru Magistrates’ Court suspended one year of the jail term on each on condition they compensated the ox owner to the tune of US$500 with each contributing US$250.

The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ), in a post on X, said Hove and Mudzingwa are brothers to the complainant and were attending a funeral at the latter’s homestead on November 10 when the incident leading to their imprisonment occurred.

Around 8.20pm, Hove and Mudzingwa were attending a funeral at the complainant’s residence when a dispute arose after Hove and Mudzingwa accused the complainant of bewitching their deceased sibling.

The brothers had a heated argument which prompted the complainant to flee his homestead.

Subsequently, Hove and Mudzingwa went to the complainant’s kraal and unlawfully slaughtered one of his oxen.

A portion of the meat was served at the funeral, while the remainder was left in the complainant’s bedroom.

The ox is valued at US$500, and no recovery has been made. Meanwhile, the NPAZ said Descent Mhomho (23), a student at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) who stays at the campus, was fined US$30 or alternatively spend 30 days in prisons by the Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Court after he was found in possession of 49grams of dagga.

Mhomho had an additional six months imprisonment term wholly suspended for five years. On November 12, the CUT security personnel received information that Mhomho was in possession of dagga.

They teamed up and approached Mhomho before they conducted a thorough search in his hostel room from where they recovered the dagga.

They arrested Mhomho and handed him over to detectives at Chinhoyi.

New Ziana