A bar owner from Dema has been slapped with a 15-year jail term following his conviction for strangling his customer to death over unbecoming behaviour, NewsDay Zimbabwe reported.
High Court judge Justice Moses Foroma sentenced Talent Nyamombe, after a full trial during which he denied killing his client Benjamin Chandimhara. He insisted that the client committed suicide.
Chandimhara was found hanging from the ceiling in Nyamombe’s bar on December 23, 2016.
A post-mortem confirmed that he did not die from strangulation; pointing to the fact that he was killed first before he was hanged.
Allegations:
The state alleges that on December 23, 2016, Chandimhara went to Gute Nite Club in Ziko, Dema where he conducted himself in a rowdy manner and got engaged in various altercations.
Around the early hours of the morning, Chandimhara got into a physical altercation with some of the patrons in the bar during which he threw a chair and missed the target but hit a table which then broke down.
This incident prompted Nyamombe to close the bar early, complaining that Chandimhara had damaged his property. Chandimhara refused to pay for what he damaged.
The witnesses said Nyamombe vowed that Chandimhara would not get away with what he did.
Witnesses say Nyamombe dismissed everyone from the club but forced Chandimhara to remain behind.
Chandimhara was then found hanged the following day and the court was convinced that Nyamombe killed Chandimhara.
The Accused’s Version of the story:
Nyamombe, through his lawyer Fortune Murisi, has since filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence at the Supreme Court.
Nyamombe denied the version of events and claimed that Chandimhara had asked him for a place to sleep as he was afraid of being beaten up by the people he had provoked.
He further claimed that he was also shocked to find Chandimhara hanging the following morning.