The family of a Bulawayo man who was shot dead by a senior police officer on 01 January 2007 has revived its quest for justice.
The victim, Artwell Magagada, was employed as a cashier at Chicken Inn along Leopold Takawira Avenue and had just knocked off from work on the day he was shot by Superintendent Milos Moyo.
Superintendent Moyo, then the officer commanding police camps in Bulawayo and stationed at ZRP Stops Camp, was charged with culpable homicide following the fatal shooting.
His trial started three years later in 2010. He pleaded not guilty to the murder of Artwell before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi.
Artwell’s brother, Charles Magagada on Wednesday told Sunday Southern Eye that the family was not happy with the way his brother’s case was handled by authorities. He said:
He was tragically shot dead and we received no apology from the accused, who was even found guilty by our courts.
To add salt to the wound, the top cop was fined US$500 sometime in 2010 and we got nothing.
While we believe he had no intention to kill my brother, just a word of apology could have gone a long way in appeasing us but absolutely no apology came.
Secondly, we thought government, since he’s their employee who caused the death of our departed brother, would institute some compensation, but there was no concern on their part.
As a family, we want justice for our brother.
Prosecutors said on 1 January 2007, Supt Moyo discharged his service firearm at a crowd of revellers who were celebrating New Year’s Day at Chicken Inn.
One of the bullets from Moyo’s Smith and Wesson CZ pistol allegedly hit Magagada in the head.
Magagada died after spending four days on a life support system at Mater Dei Hospital, with the bullet still lodged in his head.
In his defence, Moyo, who was represented by Tanaka Muganyi, denied the possibility of his gunshots having injured Artwell.
He claimed that the deceased was not in his line of fire, adding that his gunshots were aimed at the wheels of a South African Isuzu truck.
Moyo alleged that he observed the driver of the truck pulling out a black pistol and cocking it.
In 2008, the Magagada family with the help of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights sued then Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri over Artwell’s death.
The Magagada family was demanding ZWL$$20 billion in damages, but the case collapsed.