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Thandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
A MAN who feigned madness to avoid trial was yesterday slapped with a 10 year jail term for chopping off his elder brother’s finger with an axe and gouging out his eye.

Smiley Mlotshwa, 31, from Samahuru village in Tsholotsho was incensed when his elder brother Welcome quarrelled with their mother.

He attacked Welcome with a wooden stool and an axe.

On his initial appearance on October 8, Smiley feigned mental illness but doctors certified him fit to stand trial.

Regional magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze yesterday convicted Smiley of attempted murder.

She said although the court considered that Smiley was a first offender, attempted murder was a serious crime which calls for a deterrent sentence.

“You are sentenced to 10 years imprisonment of which two years are suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour,” said magistrate Msipa-Marondedze.

Prosecuting Concilia Ncube said on 29 September at around 10pm Smiley and his family were warming themselves around a fireplace in a kitchen hut.

“While sitting in the kitchen hut a dispute arose between Welcome, the older brother and his mother. This did not go well with Smiley, the younger brother, who then picked up a wooden stool and hit his brother all over the body resulting in him falling down. While lying on the ground, Smiley then picked up an axe and struck his brother once on the right eye and twice on the leg,” she said.

The court heard Smiley bludgeoned Welcome until he lost consciousness and the family rushed him to Samahuru Clinic.

He was later transferred to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he spent three weeks.

Ncube told the court that Welcome lost his right eye, a finger and fractured a leg in the assault.

On his first appearance the magistrate sent Smiley to be examined by two doctors in terms of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:02.

The two doctors, Dr Alex Manohar and Dr Taurai Rugare, confirmed that he had no mental disability and was fit for trial.

“The patient, Smiley, is well oriented to place and time. He has a normal thought process, is normal mentally and fit for trial,” reads the letter from the two doctors.