Vendor jailed 9 months for headbutting cop

BULAWAYO – A 29-YEAR-old illegal street vendor who beat up a policeman was jailed an effective nine months. Busani Ncube of Old Magwegwe was convicted on his own plea of guilty by Bulawayo magistrate, Ms Maryleen Mutshina.

Ncube was slapped with a total of one year in prison and three months were suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar offence.

The prosecutor, Mr Malvern Nzombe, said on 26 April at about 1.15pm at corner 11th Avenue and Fort Street, the policeman approached Ncube who was selling his wares. The policeman who was in the company of three colleagues, asked Ncube to produce his hawker’s licence and he failed to do so.

When the policeman tried to handcuff Ncube, he became violent, punching and head-butting him. The policeman was injured and taken to Mpilo Central Hospital while his colleagues eventually arrested Ncube.

In an unrelated matter, a 24-year-old man was jailed an effective four months for stabbing his workmate for refusing to share a meal with him. Doit Ndlovu of Mfazimithi Village in Bubi district and employed at Siyaya Syndicate Mines was convicted on his own plea of guilty.

He was sentenced to a total of six months in jail and two months were conditionally suspended for five years. The court heard that on 27 May he spotted the complainant eating isitshwala at their workplace during lunch time.

Ndlovu demanded to join the complainant but he refused to share. Angered, Ndlovu pulled out a knife and tried to stab the complainant in the chest but he blocked the knife with his left hand. He sustained injuries and was taken to hospital where he was treated and discharged.