The accused was charged with murder; it being alleged, that, on the 4th day of December 2014, at around 23:00 hours, at Kimcote 2, Beatrice he unlawfully and intentionally killed Lovemore Mutaramutswa by striking him all over his body using sticks thereby inflicting injuries from which the said Lovemore Mataramutswa ...
The accused was charged with murder; it being alleged, that, on the 4th day of December 2014, at around 23:00 hours, at Kimcote 2, Beatrice he unlawfully and intentionally killed Lovemore Mutaramutswa by striking him all over his body using sticks thereby inflicting injuries from which the said Lovemore Mataramutswa died.
He pleaded not guilty to murder but pleaded guilty to culpable homicide.
A Statement of Agreement Facts was submitted by the State and defence counsel which was as follows:
1. The accused and the deceased were not related and were not known to each other. They were introduced to each other by the first State witness, Charles Ropowa, on the fateful day, the 4th of December 2014.
2. They were drinking alcohol together from 4:30pm in the afternoon to 9:30pm in the evening - that is, Chibuku mixed with spirits.
3. On their way home, the accused gave the deceased his Nokia 1200 cell phone, and, as they approached Zururu Plot Kimcote 2, the accused asked from the deceased to give him back the cell phone. However, the deceased, Lovemore Mutaramutswa, failed to produce the cellphone and a misunderstanding arose.
4. Upon the deceased failing to produce the cell phone and insisting he did not know where he had put it, the accused person commenced assaulting the deceased using a stick that he had plucked from the nearby bushes.
5. The deceased pleaded with the accused to stop assaulting him undertaking to show him where his cell phone was and the accused stopped assaulting the deceased.
6. The deceased failed to produce the phone whereupon the accused unplucked another stick from a nearby bush and resumed assaulting the deceased all over his body. Again, the deceased pleaded with the accused to stop assaulting him; again, undertaking to produce his cell phone.
7. The deceased again failed to produce the cellphone and the accused unplucked a third stick from a nearby bush and resumed assaulting the deceased with it demanding production of his cell phone and tearing his clothes in the process.
8. The accused stopped assaulting the deceased upon realising that he had stopped responding to his demands to produce his cell phone.
9. At this point, the accused used the first State witness's cell phone to dial his number and his phone rang from some nearby bushes from where he retrieved it and he went home and left the deceased in the bush lying naked and motionless.
10. The following day, on the 5th of December 2014, at around 08.00, State witnesses Charles Kopowa and Ashton Chakwenya passed through the scene and saw the body of the deceased upon which they alerted the police.
11. Sergeant Basira attended the scene and caused the body to be conveyed to Chitungwiza Hospital for a post mortem. Sergeant Basira also arrested the accused on the same day, the 5th of December 2014.
12. The post-mortem for Lovemore Mutaramutswa, and the three sticks used to assault him, will be produced as exhibits by consent.
13. From the onset, the accused admitted to causing the deceased's death by assaulting him all over his body using the three sticks.
It was agreed that the accused negligently caused the death of the deceased.
Several exhibits were tendered as evidence.
The post-mortem report by Dr Roberto Trecu was admitted as exhibit 1. It showed that the deceased had died of subdural haematoma, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and severe head trauma consistent with assault.
The three sticks used to assault the deceased, measuring 2m, 84cm, and 76cm were admitted as exhibits 2(a), (b) and (c) respectively.
The deceased's tattered clothes from the assault, which included a shirt, short, and trousers were admitted as exhibit 3.
