Gweru regional magistrate Christopher Maturure on Wednesday found Chinese national Liu Haifeng (52) not guilty of attempted murder.
The charges against Liu stemmed from a labour dispute at Ming Chang Sino Africa Bijou Farm on the outskirts of Gweru in January 2025.
The State alleged that Liu fired gunshots at Kholwani Dube, a farm employee, following a disagreement.
However, in his ruling, Maturure found that Dube was the aggressor in the incident. The magistrate also noted that the second State witness failed to corroborate the evidence submitted by the complainant.
Liu was represented by lawyers from Gundu, Dube and Pamacheche Legal Practitioners.
Prosecuting, Monica Mungwena told the court that on January 21, 2025, at around 4 PM, Liu, the farm manager, fired three shots towards Dube after a misunderstanding over a task assignment. Dube had refused to execute the task and was subsequently served with a suspension letter.
The court heard that Dube demanded his salary before leaving the workplace, leading to an altercation.
Another Chinese national, Wang Jun, a stores man, arrived at the scene and allegedly joined in the fight.
Liu dropped his pistol, which Wang picked up and pointed at Dube’s head, pressing him to the ground and tying him with a wire.
In his defence, Liu claimed that he only fired two warning shots in the air after Dube turned violent, threatening to run over his Chinese bosses with a grader.
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