A man from Lupane village outside Beit Bridge was sentenced to an effective 18 years in jail for fatally assaulting his wife, following a misunderstanding over a missing airtime recharge voucher.

Busani Sibanda (34), pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife, Sikhulile Dube (24), but was convicted on Thursday of murder with constructive intent by a local High Court judge, Justice Maphios Cheda.

It was testified that on 31 October last year, at around 17:00, Sibanda and his wife arrived at Jennifer Nkomo’s homestead to check on traditional beer that was being brewed there. In the kitchen hut, Dube asked people who were present about her airtime voucher she had left there the previous day. She also asked her husband about the voucher and this did not go down well with Sibanda. He claimed that the airtime voucher she was looking for had been given to her by a boyfriend.

He slapped her on the cheek and when she tried to run away, Sibanda took a wooden bench which was in the kitchen hut, struck her on the head and all over the body with it. She ran out of the kitchen hut and he followed her, picked up a log and assaulted her all over the body until she fell down.

Sibanda dragged her outside the yard while still assaulting her. Once outside the yard, Sibanda picked up a stone and struck her; she subsequently fell down and lost consciousness. She died as a result of the injuries she had sustained from the assault.

According to the post mortem report, Dube’s body had bruises all over, skull and jaw fracture and the pathologist concluded that the cause of death was sub-arachnoid haemorrhage as a result of a depressed skull fracture, caused by an assault.