A HIGH Court judge yesterday blasted the police for lacking basic investigative skills, which in some instances resulted in suspects being acquitted despite having committed a crime.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi made the scathing remarks as he acquitted a man who was accused of fatally shooting a suspected burglar who allegedly broke into his homestead and stole a bicycle among other valuables.

He said the detective who investigated Innocent Gwebu, 40, of Emawabeni, who was being accused of indiscriminately firing six deadly shots at Nkosilamandla Moyo, 28, eight years ago, lacked basic investigative skills.

“This case was mishandled by those charged with the responsibility of bringing offenders to book when they displayed a lackadaisical approach to criminality, which is unprecedented. As it is, the deceased, who may have died for nothing when the law of the jungle was applied as vigilante justice took over, will never see real justice,” said Justice Mathonsi.

The judge slammed the investigating officer, Lection Sibanda, for rushing to incriminate Gwebu without extracting fingerprints from the weapon used in committing the murder.

In discharging Gwebu at the close of the State case, Justice Mathonsi ruled that there was no evidence linking him to the crime.

“This is a case in which nobody witnessed the killing of Moyo and as such there’s no direct evidence of the offence. The State case is therefore essentially circumstantial and accused is hereby found not guilty of the charge of murder and acquitted,” ruled Justice Mathonsi.

The judge also took a swipe at the prosecutor for relying on Gwebu’s relatives as state witnesses.

“It was naive in the extreme, it was downright utopian to hinge the State case on evidence of an accused person’s mother, wife, son and nephew and expect that they would assist in sending their loved one to prison even if indeed he had pumped six bullets into a hapless villager suspected of having broken into a homestead and stolen a bicycle among other valuables,” said Justice Mathonsi.

Gwebu’s lawyers, Thabani Matshakaile and Thapelo Ndebele from Lazarus and Sarif Legal Practitioners, applied for discharge at the close of the State case arguing that the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against their client.

Thompson Hove, for the State, opposed the application, saying Gwebu had a case to answer and must be put to his defence.

The court heard that on April 13, 2008, Gwebu, who suspected that Moyo had stolen property from his homestead, went on a manhunt for the deceased.

He accidentally met Moyo when they boarded the same vehicle from Emawabeni to Mbilamboyi.

Gwebu, who was travelling with his family, got a tip off from his wife Sigezephi Sibanda who pinpointed Moyo as the man who had broken into their property.

Gwebu, his family and Moyo disembarked at the same bus stop at Mbilamboyi.

“Soon after disembarking from the vehicle, Gwebu ordered his family to proceed home and he remained behind with Moyo,” said Hove.

Gwebu confronted Moyo over the alleged theft of property before he allegedly shot him six times all over the body. Soon after committing the alleged crime, Gwebu went to his home before he fled to South Africa the following morning. A villager discovered the body the following day and reported the matter to the police.

The investigating officer, Sibanda, who attended the scene, said he discovered that Moyo had six gunshot wounds on the forehead, abdomen and chest. He also recovered six spent cartridges.

The body had been dragged for about 20 metres from the scene, the court heard.

“There were footprints and upon investigations, I got information that there was a break in at Gwebu’s home and when I went to investigate, I discovered the same footprints at his home,” said Sibanda.

Gwebu, who was holed up in South Africa, was arrested six years later after he surrendered himself to the police.

According to post mortem results, the cause of death was due to multiple wounds and assault.Mashudu Netsianda, Senior chronicle