Man jailed for killing villager in mistaken identity attack

By Mary Taruvinga

A 23-year-old man from Chiredzi, who fatally stabbed a villager after mistaking him for one of his attackers, has been jailed for five years.

Justice Christopher Dube-Banda sitting at the Hight Court at Masvingo convicted Simbarashe Tapera of culpable homicide after he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge, escaping a possible murder conviction.

The court heard that on December 22, 2024, Tapera fatally stabbed Edwin Tapera, aged 24, at Murambi village, Chief Nhema in Zaka.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the deceased had earlier been assaulted by a group of young men while walking home from Mutembwa business centre around 7pm.

Court heard that, as the assailants fled, the accused arrived at the scene with his girlfriend. Mistaken for one of the attackers, he was grabbed by the collar by the deceased, who was holding a stick. In response, Simbarashe drew a knife and stabbed the deceased once in the chest before fleeing.

The judge said the accused acted negligently.

“At the time the accused stabbed the deceased, an attack on him was imminent. However, the means he used to avert the attack were not reasonable in the circumstances,” he said.

“In stabbing the deceased in the manner he did, a reasonable man placed in the same circumstances as the accused would have foreseen the possibility of death and guarded against it. The accused was negligent, and it was his negligence that led to the death of the deceased.”

The judge noted that although the deceased was the aggressor, the accused’s reaction was excessive and unjustified.

“The fact is that the accused was not part of the group that harassed the deceased and his companions. He just found himself in a controversy he had nothing to do with; these factors reduce his moral blameworthiness.”

He, however, stressed that the sanctity of life must be upheld. “Society frowns upon a person who, by his violent conduct, causes the death of another human being. The courts must send a loud and clear message that causing the death, albeit negligently, of a fellow human being will not be tolerated,” the judge said.

The court also considered the Victim Impact Statement, which highlighted the emotional and financial suffering endured by the deceased’s family.

Tapera, a first offender and father of one, was sentenced to five years in prison, with one year suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

“The accused, though a young first offender, jumped into crime from the deep end, and he must contend with the consequences. This was negligence of the highest degree,” said Justice Dube-Banda.