Faith Mabuto Midlands Reporter
TWO teenage brothers from Lower Gweru allegedly assaulted a soldier and left him for dead after he accused one of them of stepping on his foot at a nightclub. Cephas Ntini, 17, and Silas Ntini (whose age was not given) of Bhudha Resettlement, Lower Gweru, appeared before Regional Magistrate Morgan Nemadire facing one count of attempted murder.
The brothers pleaded guilty. Nemadire sentenced each of them to five years in prison. They will, however, each serve three years after the magistrate suspended two years on condition of good behaviour. Nemadire said the boys almost killed the soldier because of their negligence.
“Your behaviour showed that you don’t have respect for other people as you just attacked the man and almost killed him. This court doesn’t accept such kind of behaviour,” he said. “It doesn’t look right for the court to give you a non-custodial sentence because you almost killed him. Therefore I sentence each of you to five years, of which two years are suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour,” said Nemadire.
Prosecuting, Andrew Marimo told the court that on December 25, last year, at around 5PM, Cephas approached Marshal Moyo, 27, a soldier at 2.1 Infantry Battalion in Mutoko who was drinking beer at a local bar in Lower Gweru and stepped on his foot.
“Moyo told Cephas that he had stepped on his foot,” said Marimo. He said Cephas verbally assaulted Moyo before punching him in the face. Marimo told the court that when the 17-year-old was still hitting Moyo, his elder brother joined the fight.
“Silas came with a log and struck Moyo on the head several times accusing him of assaulting his younger brother,” said Marimo. “Moyo fell to the ground, unconscious. He was bleeding from the head and mouth,” he said.
Marimo told the court that as soon Moyo fell to the ground, the duo fled from the scene and Moyo was taken to hospital. The court heard that witnesses who were at the scene reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of the duo.