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Yeukai Karengezeka Herald Correspondent
A Beatrice farmer has been fined $500 after shooting a man he caught cutting a tree on his farm.

Sydney Chidziva (44) was convicted by Chitungwiza regional magistrate Mrs Estere Chivasa after a full trial.

He was initially charged for attempted murder before the charge was altered to assault.

Mrs Chivasa, however, wholly suspended the sentence on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.

Prosecuting, Mr Edmond Ndambakuwa proved that on June 10 at around 6am, the complainant, Washington Murangari (31), drove to Chidziva-Herwen Farm, Beatrice, to look for firewood with Patron and Lenny Kabara.

Upon arrival, they came across  a fallen tree and decided to chop it. Chidziva, who was passing by in his car, heard the sound of chopping and disembarked while wielding a 12-bore double-barrel shotgun.

The court heard that Murangari and his two friends got into their vehicle and tried to speed off from the scene.

Chidziva fired two shots at Murangari, who was holding onto the loading box, and the bullets hit him on his lower back and the upper part of the back of his  thighs.

He fell into the loading box of the vehicle and they continued to drive off.

A report was made tothe police and one 12-bore spent cartridge was recovered at the scene and taken to the CID where it was examined and proved that it had been fired recently.

Murangari was taken to Chitungwiza Central Hospital for treatment. An examination conducted by a Government medical officer showed that Murangari had small puncture wounds in the lower back, gluteal region (party of the body located next to the pelvic girdle) and upper part of the back of his thigh while an X-ray film showed multiple foreign balls.