THOHOYANDOU – Tshimangadzo Bikkie Ndou (27) from Madimboin the Niani area was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for murder in the Thohoyandou High Court last Wednesday. In the same case, William Gumbu (22), also from Madimbo, received a suspended sentence for an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

The case relates to an incident that took place at Madimbo Village during the night of January 14 this year. The court heard that, during the night of the incident, the deceased, Mpheni Lawrence Munyai (20) was in the company of his friends. They were walking in the street and met the accused who were going in the opposite direction. The court also heard that the accused blocked the way for the deceased and his friends. They ordered them not to move before they were instructed to do so.

The deceased ignored them and tried to pass. That was an insult to the first accused, Bikkie Ndou, who immediately produced a panga and chopped the deceased in the chest. He was taken to the nearby Madimbo clinic, where he was certified dead on arrival.

Ndou was sentenced to 10 years in jail, of which four years were suspended for five years. Before sentencing Ndou, Judge Duvenhage stated that, although the deceased had been brutally murdered, he also contributed towards his own killing. He said that the deceased should have not tried to pass when the accused had blocked the way. He further indicated that the fact that the deceased had attempted to pass was an indication that he, too, had been in a fighting mood. The second accused, William Gumbu, was found guilty on a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The court found that Gumbu tried to hide the knife that Ndou had used to kill Munyai in the soil after the incident. He was sentenced to a seven months term of imprisonment, which was wholly suspended. Judge Duvenhage said that the reason for his suspending the sentence was that Gumbu had been in custody from the day of his arrest as all his attempts to apply for bail bore no fruit.

He said that the period which Gumbu had already stayed in jail was good enough to serve as a jail sentence to him.

Adv MJ Mushasha prosecuted in the case while Mrs Theodora Mathivha from the Thohoyandou Justice Centre represented the accused.