High Court Judge, Justice Francis Bere, on circuit in Masvingo, has lambasted the police for ineptitude when conducting investigations of serious cases like murder.Justice Bere said this yesterday when he acquitted 63-year-old Kefas Muchemi of Muchemi Village under Chief Nyakunhuwa in Zaka of murder charges.
Kefas fatally stabbed his brother’s son, Shadreck Muchemi in 2012 during a beer drink while fighting over the village headship roles. He stabbed his nephew on the left side of his chest resulting in Shadreck dying on the spot. Kefas, who was represented pro deo by Takura Kuchenga of Legal Aid Directory, was acquitted after the defence counsel argued that Kefas acted in self-defence when he fatally stabbed Shadreck.
Justice Bere said police investigations were poorly done. The State only presented two witnesses, the owner of the homestead, Amon Makusha, where the now deceased and accused were drinking beer and the village head, Bodius Muchemi, who is Shadreck’s father.
Justice Bere said the police could have been more thorough in their investigations and provided more witnesses other than Makusha and the village head.
‘‘The court is left to rely on Kefas’ version of events especially on the circumstances that led to Shadreck’s stabbing. We find it awkward that from all the people drinking beer at Amos Makusha’s homestead, there is none who witnessed the incident. Of course, there is a risk of exaggeration in the accused’s evidence but the court is unable to dismiss it on the basis of speculation,” he said.
Justice Bere said the courts were hamstrung when it came to further investigating cases as they rely solely on the police for that duty.
In his judgment, Justice Bere sitting with assessors Samuel Mutomba and Joseph Mushuku, said the court could not reject Kefas’ evidence that that the now deceased was aggressive and had threatened him with death hence he acted in self-defence.
He said while in other countries, the courts have the mandate to further investigate cases, the situation was different here.
“The accused acted in the manner necessary when someone is under attack. The court does not adopt an armchair approach in cases like this because the evidence given by the accused cannot be dismissed as the court has no mandate to further investigate. In other jurisdictions, the courts enjoy that mandate but not here in Zimbabwe. That is the work of the police,” said Justice Bere.
Shadreck was aged 24 at the time of his death in 2012. Under cross examination, Kefas admitted to have stabbed Shadreck but, however, denied that he had the intention to kill his nephew.
Kefas said he wanted to inflict pain on Shadreck’s upper part of the left hand so that he could free himself from the deceased’s firm hold but accidentally reached for the chest.
Prosecuting, Takunda Chikwati said in May, 2012 Kefas and Shadreck were with other patrons at Makusha’s homestead for a traditional beer drink.
“At around 7AM, Kefas, acting on behalf of the village head, Bodius Muchemi, 72, who is also his brother and father to the late Shadreck, took out beer meant for the village elders.
He took out two tins filled with beer and gave them to Mavhima Maoneke to mark the traditional beer drinking ceremony. When this happened, the village head, Bodius Muchemi, had not yet arrived,” said Chikwati.
The court heard that Shadreck was not amused by Kefas’s actions and started accusing him of wanting to overthrow his father from the position of village head.
Chikwati said Shadreck then charged towards Kefas who he grabbed by the left hand and dragged him out of the hut and yard.
“In order to free himself, Kefas then produced an Okapi knife from his pocket and stabbed Shadreck on the chest. Shadreck fell down and died instantly,” he said.
After realising that Shadreck was dead, Kefas fled the scene heading towards his homestead. He narrated to his family what had happened at the beer drink before he later handed himself to the police.
Police attended the scene and took the body to the hospital for postmortem.
Results of a postmortem showed that Shadreck died of haemorrhaging shock and stab wound. He had a deep stab wound on his chest.