Decide Nhendo
A 37-year-old man from village 33B under Chief Murinye area in Masvingo central constituency is in court over allegations of assaulting traditional Chief and a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer on duty.
Wakemore Gavhure, one of the people who attacked Chief Murinye born Ephias Munodawafa at a funeral recently appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Court Elizabeth Hanzie on July 12, 2023 and was remanded in custody to July 25, 2023.
Gavhure is facing two charges of assault, the first being of assaulting Chief Murinye and the second account being of assaulting Honest Nemadziwa, a police officer, who had accompanied the chief to the funeral on June 28.
It is the state case as presented by Nixon Chamisa that on the fateful day at village 33B Gavhure slapped Chief Murinye with an open hand and also struck him once with a log on the hands.
It is also alleged that the accused attacked the Chief knowing that he was acting in the course of his duty.
Gavhure is also accused of striking Nemadziwa who was executing his duties on the head with a fist once.
In his defense Gavhure said he only slapped the chief and did not use any stick to hit the chief.
“I did not use a stick to strike the Chief, but the stick came from other people who were around when the incident took place,” said Gavhure.
He also denied assaulting the police officer saying the officer was attacked by the mob at the funeral.
“The police officer was assaulted by people who were around when the incident happened,” he said.
Remanding him in custody, the Magistrate said what Gavhure did was a sign of disrespect on the traditional leaders so sending him to remand prison is a warning to other would-be offenders that the custodians of culture should not be disrespected.
