Rutendo Chitore
GWERU – Six Zvishavane gold panners were on February 7 sentenced to a combined 106 years in prison after being convicted of murder by Bulawayo High Court Judge, Nokhutula Moyo.
The six are Andrew Sibanda, Tawanda Shumba, Pardon Ndlovu, Noel Zhou, Innocent Malunga and Reason Ndlovu.
Of the combined sentence, each will get between 16 to 18 years imprisonment.
It was the State’s case that sometime in 2017, Shumba was assaulted by some residents after a failed robbery in Masvingo.
His friends heard about the assault and they went on a rampage assaulting anyone that they met as a way of retaliation.
The indiscriminate assaults resulted in one resident Jabulani Aaron seeking refuge at the now deceased Edmore Mapota house.
Sibanda, Shumba, Ndlovu, Zhou, Malunga and Reason followed Aaron and stabbed him on the back three times. When Mapota started assisting the stabbed man, he was fatally struck with a log on the head resulting to his instant death.
The court heard that Mapota died on sport and the culprits ran away.
The gang was later apprehended by the police.local
