A GWERU teenager, who allegedly brutally stabbed his mother with a kitchen knife after she refused with her car last December, wept uncontrollably inside the dock as his murder trial commenced at the Gweru High Court Circuit yesterday.
by Stephen Chadenga
Kudakwashe Ashley Sibanda (19) allegedly killed his mother, Barbra Sibanda, after she refused to give him money and access to her car so he could go partying.
High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva briefly stopped the proceedings to check if the teenager was fit to stand trial as he continuously sobbed in the dock.
The trial only resumed after he regained composure, where he denied the murder charge, saying he acted the way he did because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Through his lawyer, Brian Dube, Sibanda said he never intended to kill his mother and pleaded with the court to charge him with culpable homicide.
The State closed its case after calling its star witness, Chouenlai Chindanga, a close family friend, who narrated how the accused was spoilt, as he was never short of any need when his mother was alive.
Chindanga, however, said Sibanda’s behaviour began to change when he was in Form 4, adding that he suspected he was now taking drugs and alcohol.
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The trial continues today when Sibanda gives his evidence.
It is the State’s case that on December 3 last year, the accused approached his mother and asked to use her car for a ride with friends.
A heated argument allegedly broke out when his request was turned down. Sibanda left home for about two hours and allegedly later came back armed with a kitchen knife and stabbed his mother five times on the chest, killing her on the spot. The accused then locked the body in the house, hid the knife under a mattress in the garage, took her cellphone and drove away in her car.
He allegedly went on a drinking spree in Harare. On his way to the capital, Sibanda allegedly ran over a pedestrian in Norton, but sped off from the scene.
On December 6, Sibanda was arrested in Mbare by members of the public who had learnt of the alleged murder and was handed over to the police.
