Mathew Masinge
TWO men, who assaulted and killed a man who had stepped on a dog, have each been jailed for five years.
Norman Gunde and Never Kamanika were sentenced by High Court Judge, Justice Esther Muremba, who convicted them of homicide.
Gunde (24) and Kamanika (27) assaulted Pios Siyakurima (35).
They accused him of stepping on Gunde’s dog during a beer binge at Mazowe Bridge Business Centre in July last year.
The two slapped Siyakurima on the face and he fell to the ground.
They kicked him all over the body until he died.
Gunde and Kamanika pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and said they even apologised to Siyakurima before he died.
In convicting the pair, Justice Muremba said they should have resolved the dispute without resorting to violence.
“Gunde and Kamanika remain liable and have to account for their deeds.
“By pleading guilty, the duo have expressed remorse.
“Although their intoxication was voluntary, it is taken that it could have diminished their appreciation of the need to resolve the dispute without resorting to violence.
“In the circumstances of the present case, what is aggravating is that the accused persons caused the death of the deceased, who was 35, and in the prime of his life.
“He lost his life over a very petty issue of having stepped on Gunde’s dog.
“The dog did not even die. It does not even look like the dog was injured yet the deceased was made to lose his life,” Justice Muremba said.
The judge said it was troubling that people’s lives continue to be lost over petty beer brawls.
“It appears that some people just choose to lose self-control when they get drunk.
“It is high time we affirm one of the main purposes of punishment in criminal law, which is to deter, not only the offenders, but also others who might consider breaking the law. The State counsel correctly submitted that we continue to lose human life as a result of beer brawls.
“It must be made clear to people, with impulses of engaging in violence once they get drunk and at the slightest provocation, that they will meet with severe punishment.”
The judge advised people that can’t keep their temper in check, when they get drunk, to stop drinking alcohol.