Teen mum killer jailed 20 years
A 19-YEAR-OLD man from Lundi Park low density suburb in Gweru who last year gruesomely murdered his mother by stabbing her several times in the chest has been jailed for 20 years.
Kudakwashe Ashley Sibanda, who is now 20-years-old, was convicted of murder with actual intent by Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva, sitting on circuit in Gweru.
Justice Takuva sentenced Sibanda to 20 years in jail despite his protestations that he was high on cocaine and was not in control of his faculties when he committed the offence.
In passing sentence, Justice Takuva said there was no excuse for Sibanda’s behaviour even though he claimed to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs. “It is clear that when you committed the crime you were in total control of your mental faculties.
“You claim that you had taken a white powder which you suspected to be a narcotic and proceeded home where you asked for money from your mother. Before she refused, she asked you to help her prepare supper to which you complied. This is a clear testimony that you knew what you were doing,” said Justice Takuva.
The judge said even if the teen had taken drugs, he had done so voluntarily. He said there were reports of many youths who were abusing drugs but they do not exhibit such wayward behaviour.
“On this basis I find you guilty of murder with actual intent,” Justice Takuva said.
Sibanda once claimed that he was not mentally stable and was sent for medical examination which proved he was normal.
Narrating how he murdered his mother, Sibanda claimed he took a whitish substance which he suspected to be cocaine.
“I met up with four of my friends and they forced me to take some substances. After I had taken these substances, I was feeling dizzy and I decided to go home. I told my friends I would meet up with them later and I left. When I arrived home I found my mum home and she asked me to prepare some salads and she handed me a knife,” said Sibanda.
He said while he was making the salad, he asked his mother for $50 and her car. “She refused saying that I had been going out frequently for the past few days and I was not going anywhere that day. It made me angry and I took the knife and went into the dining room where she was sitting and stabbed her with it,” said a seemingly unmoved Sibanda.
He said he stole his mother’s car and went for a beer binge at a popular nightspot in Gweru with female friends.
“I took my mother’s keys and I drove off. I received a call from Heather saying that I should come pick her up. I then went to a friend of my mum’s and took $150. I went back home and I took some clothes before I went to the Bowling club and spent the rest of the night there,” Sibanda said.
For the State, Mr Tafadzwa Mpariwa told the court that Sibanda stole his mother’s Nissan Bluebird vehicle and proceeded to Total Garage in Gweru where he filled the tank and drove off without paying and went for joyrides with prostitutes on a three day drinking spree.
When the news of the callous killing of his mother spread, Sibanda fled to Harare. He ran over a pedestrian in Norton in a hit and run accident. Police arrested him following a tip-off.