Bulawayo High Court acquits Filabusi man in stepbrother murder case

Bulawayo High Court acquits Filabusi man in stepbrother murder case

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The High Court in Bulawayo has acquitted a 25-year-old man from Filabusi, Matabeleland South, who had been accused of murdering his 31-year-old stepbrother following an alleged dispute over an R200 debt.

Polite Gumbo was cleared by Justice Ngoni Nduna, who ruled that the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and that there was no evidence linking him to the offence.

In his judgement, Justice Nduna said there was no witness who saw Gumbo commit the crime and that the State did not call an eyewitness to testify.

“There is no one who saw the accused committing the crime, and there is no eyewitness who was called by the State to testify to that effect. The investigating officer told the court that a key witness refused to come. The matter was poorly investigated, and there are glaring inconsistencies,” Justice Nduna said.

Justice Nduna also said he considered the defence’s claims that Gumbo was assaulted by police officers in an attempt to force a confession, adding that the argument was credible and the accused might have been coerced into admitting to a crime he did not commit.

Gumbo’s lawyer, Dereck Kosam, told the court his client was wrongly implicated. He said Gumbo and the deceased had been drinking beer at Mandeveni Bush Park Mine compound in Collen Bawn before Gumbo left briefly for a nearby toilet.

“The accused was drinking beer with the now-deceased at Mandeveni Bush Park Mine, Collen Bawn. The accused person then left to a nearby toilet and came back only to find the now-deceased lying on the ground, and saw a man who was sitting next to them running away. The accused person then followed the unidentified man trying to find out what had happened, but could not catch up with him. He then went to his home,” Kosam said.

Kosam said Gumbo later learnt from his mother that his stepbrother had died and travelled to Bulawayo, where he stayed with an aunt in Makokoba. He said Gumbo was then told that a man named Nkosinesisa had alleged he assaulted the deceased and that police were looking for him. Kosam told the court Gumbo’s mother advised him to report to the nearest police station, and he later handed himself in at Mzilikazi Police Station, where he was arrested.

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The State, represented by prosecutor Tarisai Mutarisi, alleged there had been a misunderstanding over R200 the deceased owed the accused. Mutarisi told the court that on March 7, 2025, at about 7pm, the two men were drinking beer at the mine compound when a dispute arose.

“A misunderstanding arose between them over R200 that the deceased owed the accused. During the dispute, the accused allegedly picked up a log and struck the deceased once on the left side of his head. The deceased fell headlong to the ground and lost consciousness, after which the accused dropped the log and fled the scene,” Mutarisi said.

The court heard that an assault case was initially reported at ZRP Collen Bawn and the injured man was taken to Gwanda Hospital. Mutarisi said the deceased’s condition worsened the following day and he was transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo, where he later died.

A post-mortem conducted on March 11, 2025 confirmed the cause of death as severe traumatic brain damage, multiple skull fractures and intracranial haemorrhages, the State told the court.

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