By Precila Takabvirakare
A 20-year-old man from Gutu will rue the day jealousy got the best of him and led him to set on fire his competitor s’ thatched gazebo bar at Chisheche Business Centre where his father owns a bar after Gutu magistrate Edwin Marecha sentenced him to 5 years behind bars recently.
Sean Chiname of Chezhira Village, Chief Nyamande, Gutu will serve an effective three years jail term after Marecha suspended one year on condition that he will not commit a similar crime, while the other year was suspended on condition that he restitutes Godfrey Mahuni’s US$9 496 value of lost property.
State facts as presented by Prosecutor Rachel Murape are that on April 2, this year at around 2100hours Sean went to Mahuni’s thatched Gazebo bar club and set it on fire, after which he hid behind a pile of bricks near the gazebo bar to witness it burning.
Progress Chiname and another patron, one Funny who had came out of the bar to relieve themselves saw Sean bolting from behind the the brick pile but did not bother much about him.
After running away, Sean went to Gift Zvenyika who was welding at Maongera Shop and told him that he had set the bar on fire but the fire had just been put off. He went on and promised to completely burn the bar if he manages to get petrol.
At around 2330 hours the same day, Sean went back to the bar and set it on fire again and the fire engulfed and burnt the thatched bar. Nyasha Chizororo a neighbor at the bar was awakened by his partner after he had gone outside to relieve himself and saw the bar burning.
Chizororo then phoned Kudzai Mubaya and told her about the incident. They all went and awakened Enia Madzuto who was asleep at the gazebo butchery. They managed to remove some property from inside the bar and tried to extinguish the fire but all was in vain. The gazebo bar was burnt down to ashes and nothing was recovered. The value of lost property was US$9 946.
The matter was reported to the police leading to Sean’s arrest.
Asked why he committed the offense Sean cited that he did not commit the offense voluntarily but he was not mentally okay and is still mentally unstable. He was ordered to go for medical examination and the results showed that he was mentally stable.
Giving it’s judgement the court then said that he committed the offense knowingly to end the competition since his father also owns a bar at Chisheche and Mahuni’s bar was upscale. The magistrate also added that a jail sentence was suitable to send a message to the community and also give Sean time to reform.
