By State Media/Agencies | In the face of confessions by his own son plus medical confirmation paperwork, warriors footballer Kuda Mahachi was yesterday acquitted of two separate counts of attempted murder by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mr Mark Dzira.
Mahachi was facing two counts of attempting to kill his son.
The footballer however breathed a sigh of relief after Magistrate Dzira said the State failed to prove the essential elements of the case while the evidence given by the witnesses was contradictory and disjointed.
Allegations against Mahachi were that on a date unknown to the prosecutor but between 25 February and 14 April 2022, Mahachi assaulted his son with an iron bar on the head and mouth.
He was also alleged to have poured hot water all over his body before assaulting him with a charger cable all over the body.
Presenting his judgment, Magistrate Dzira said the complainant gave contradictory statements during cross examination. He further said other witnesses who testified also gave inconsistent testimonies and it was difficult to ascertain who was lying and who was telling the truth.
The magistrate further said the medical experts could not figure out the cause of the injuries hence the dismissal of the case and acquittal of Mahachi. But another story tells a different version of events. Journalist Ezra Sibanda says the 4 year old son has 3rd degree burns and doctors have confirmed injuries are results of burns from hot water. The injuries according to health experts were between 6 and 8 weeks old by May this year judging from the way the wounds were infected.
The child was admitted to Mpilo hospital on the 20th of April.
The 4 year old left Zim on a flight from JMN Nkomo Airport, fit and strong accompanied by an adult using Zimbabwean passports on the 25th of February 2022. Checking with the Beitbridge and Botswana Border posts and also Bulawayo airport, there is no report of the child re-entering Zimbabwe. In the system it only shows that the child left Zimbabwe and accordingly he should still be outside Zimbabwe. The child is now in Zimbabwe which confirms his mother Maritha Ndlovu is correct that the child was “smuggled” back to Zimbabwe. The mother also said she picked the child from Mahachi’s grandmother without a passport when she was called to come to Cowadray Park to take her sick son to hospital on the 19th of April.
Social services visited the mother and child at the hospital to take reports and the case was reported to the police on the day the child was admitted.
The interview of the child in which he confirms he was beaten up and poured hot water by the father Kuda Mahachi, is available as an exhibit.
The child didn’t say anything about the step mother but insisted he was beaten by a phone charger and poured hot water by the father.
Despite the mother sleeping on the floor in Hospital and praying to get her son better, she was served with a letter from the so called lawyers of Mahachi threatening to sue her and demanding that she retracts her statements from the press.