Kudakwashe Kutamahufa

SHURUGWI – Two men have been sentenced to eight years in prison each for murdering a rival over a missing snooker token.

The duo, Sydney Butete from Musara Village and Tawanda Manjovi from Matinyenya Village under Chief Nhema brutally stabbed Learnmore Mudzengi of Hwati Village under Chief Nhema.

Mudzengi was 36-years-old at the time he met his death.

Bulawayo High Court Judge Munamato Mutevedzi who was on circuit at the Gweru Magistrates presided over the matter.

Judge Mutevedzi suspended three years for five years on both sentences leaving them with an effective five years imprisonment.

The court heard that on Christmas Day last year at around 9 pm, Mudzengi and Butete were drinking and playing snooker inside Chikara Bar at Musavezi Business Centre.

The two had a misunderstanding over a missing snooker token, which Butete alleged to have been snatched by Mudzengi.

Butete threw an empty beer bottle in a bid to strike Mudzengi but he missed and it hit the wall.

Other patrons restrained the two and Butete subsequently left the bar.

Around 11 pm, Mudzengi got outside the bar to relieve himself and he met Manjovi on the veranda.

Manjovi started assaulting Mudzengi who tried to escape but met Butete who had just emerged from the darkness.

Butete stabbed Mudzengi with an okapi knife he was holding once on the chest near the collarbone without saying anything.

Mudzengi staggered for a few steps from the veranda while bleeding and he fell down on the ground and became unconscious. They fled from the scene leaving Mudzengi lying on the ground.

Nkosilathi Machokoto, one of the patrons at the bar tried to look for transport to ferry Mudzengi to hospital but to no avail. On his return, he found Mudzengi no longer breathing.

Machokoto went to Mabanga Village to inform Mudzengi’s father Sarai Johnson Bashoma about the incident. The father went on to report the matter to the police.

On December 26 around 7 am, police officers from ZRP Tongogara attended the scene. Mudzengi’s body was taken to Shurugwi District Hospital.

Manjovi was arrested at his homestead. Butete who had fled to Shurugwi was later surrendered to ZRP Shurugwi by his mother.

The police recovered the okapi knife from Butete and it was taken for weighing at Tongogara Post Office.

On December 27 2024, Mudzengi’s body was taken to United Bulawayo Hospital and Dr Pesanai conducted a post-mortem and it concluded that the death was due to acute respiratory failure, haemorrhage shock and haemothorax.