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Fidelis Munyoro

Chief Court Reporter

A MAN from Mt Darwin who was hired to rob a tobacco farmer of his US$9 000 earnings from the sale of his crop, but  instead killed the farmer, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Japhet Chimunhondo was hired by another villager Nomore Mavhura to rob Mr Clifford Kadowa of his hard-earned cash.

When Mavhura heard from his wife that Mr Kadowa had received a substantial amount of cash from the sale of his tobacco crop and as the two were close friends, he approached Mr Kadowa seeking to borrow US$500.

However, Mr Kadowa told him he had no money. This did not go down well with Mavhura who then hatched a plan to rob Mr Kadowa. He hired Chimunhondo to help him do the dirty work.

The two armed themselves with a knife which they had bought earlier that day and went to Mr Kadowa’s homestead after nightfall. They worked out where Mr Kadowa was sleeping and barged into his bedroom hut.

Mr Kadowa resisted the intrusion and during the struggle, Chimunhondo stabbed Mr Kadowa twice, once on the cheek and once on the chest and then fled with the farmer in hot pursuit.

Mr Kadowa, who was severely injured, dropped dead in his tracks a few metres from his homestead. Chimunhondo was unsuccessful in getting the money and all that he got away with was the victim’s blood on his clothes and that helped the police investigations leading to his arrest and a murder charge.

Chimunhondo denied the murder charge when he appeared before High Court judge Justice Lucy-Anne Mungwari but she found him guilty of murder committed in aggravating circumstances and sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment.

Although the presumptive penalty for a murder committed in aggravating circumstances can be as low as 20 years, that is the rock bottom minimum and the court has to consider all factors and circumstances. A male adult can even be sentenced to death.

“It follows that the court is bound by the sentences which are prescribed for a murder committed in aggravating circumstances, namely that it may sentence the offender to death, to imprisonment for life or to a definite term not less than 20 years’ imprisonment,” Justice Mungwari said.

“Handing down a sentence is an exercise largely dictated by the weight of the mitigation and aggravation submitted by the defence and the prosecution respectively”.

Considering all the factors presented in mitigation by the offender and the aggravating factors in this case, the judge said it was clear that the aggravation outweighed the mitigation.

“The loss of life due to greed and the presence of multiple aggravating factors make the murder senseless and extremely brutal,” she said.

Chimunhodo’s accomplice, Mavhura, is currently serving a 30-year sentence and Justice Mungwari applied the principle of uniformity to treat the pair similarly unless there are valid reasons not to do so.

In this case, the judge found reasons to differentiate the sentence given the fact that Chimunhondo struck the fatal blow, displayed no remorse, and fled the scene, while his accomplice showed remorse by assisting the police and willingly subjecting himself to trial.

Considering Chimunhondo’s lack of remorse and possible risk of re-offending, the judge said he deserved to be removed from society for a significant period of time, more than his accomplice.

Mr Albert Masamha appeared for State while IEG Musimbe Legal Practitioners acted for Chimunhondo.