Jail time for biting police officer

A MAKUTI man has been sentenced to six months in prison for biting a policeman who was trying to arrest him for malicious damage to property.

Peter Nongwe (27) pleaded guilty to a count of malicious damage to property and another one for assault when he appeared before Kariba magistrate Miss Bianca Mahere.

He, however, said he did not know that the man he assaulted was a policeman on duty.

The magistrate ordered Nongwe to pay a fine of $300 or serve three months on the first count and a further six months for assaulting a policeman in a bid to resist arrest.

Miss Mahere suspended three of the six month on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the next five years.

It is on record that on June 21, 2019, Nongwe was visited by his friend at Tsetse compound in Makuti, where a misunderstanding ensued.

It was during the heated melee that he damaged his visitor’s car using a stone before a report was made to the police.

He was arrested and taken to Makuti Police Station by one Constable Tafadzwa Mupepereke, who later ordered him to remove his belt and surrender all his belongings, but he refused. During detention, Nongwe left the charge office and was found walking in the corridor before he was stopped.

He grabbed the policeman by the neck before biting him on the upper lip.

In passing sentence, the magistrate said there was no doubt that Nongwe had committed the offences adding that it was the duty of the courts to give appropriate punishment to offenders to deter would-be offenders.