The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Wednesday, April 29, 1992 — A 68-year-old man took off at high speed in his car with a policeman lying on the bonnet and clinging to the rear view mirror to avoid falling off. The incident happened in 1990. And yesterday, regional magistrate Mr Wilbert Mapombere likened the drama to the television series MacGyver and sentenced Tapelunda Kennis Nyoni to one year in prison. Nyoni, who went to jail protesting, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted murder. He had nine months of the sentence conditionally suspended for four years.

Nyoni learnt the hard way yesterday that money cannot buy everything, including one’s liberty, when his request for a fine on the grounds that he had “a lot of money” was turned down.

The prosecutor, Mr Barney Afako, told the court that on December 28, 1990, Constable John Maseko, who is the complainant in the case, was carrying out spot checks for defective motor vehicles at the intersection of Fort Street and Eighth Avenue in the Bulawayo city centre.

On approaching Constable Maseko, Nyoni slowed down, but when he was a few metres from the police officer, he suddenly accelerated. The acceleration was so sudden and rapid that Constable Maseko did not have time to get off the road and to avoid being run over, he dived on to the bonnet and held onto the handle of the driver’s rearview mirror.

Nyoni kept on accelerating and began swerving the car from left to right and jerking it in an attempt to shake off Constable Maseko. He managed to pull and force himself into Nyoni’s car through a window on the passenger’s side, which was open.