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Zanu PF supporters get 18 years for murdering MDC-T activist
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
September 26, 2011

High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi on Monday September 26, found four Zanu PF supporters guilty of murdering an MDC-T activist Moses Chokuda in March 2009. Four of the suspects including Midlands Governor Jaison Machaya's son were sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.

The four convicted suspects Farai Machaya (the governor's son) Abel Maposa, and brothers Edmore Gana and Bothwell Gana, as well as soldiers Obert Gavi and Tirivashoma Mawadze, all of Gokwe Centre, had earlier on pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder as defined in Section 47 of the Criminal (Codification and Reform) Act.

Soldiers Gavi and Mawadze were acquitted on the murder charge but were convicted of assault and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment which was wholly suspended for five years on condition that they do not commit a similar offence.

The body of Moses Chokuda who was murdered in March 2009 remain unburied and in a mortuary at Gokwe Centre.

Justice Mathonsi and assessors Lex Dhlula and Wellington Matemba presided over the alleged politically motivated murder of the MDC-T activist in a Circuit Court held in Gweru. The Judge concluded that the evidence before the court was overwhelming after all the suspects admitted to have witnessed the assault of Moses Chokuda that led to his death but argued they did not take part in the assault but instead tried to assist the deceased by demanding that the assault be stopped.

The state, represented by chief law officer Rosa Takuva and state counsel Diana Msipa, argued that the first four accused persons fatally assaulted Chokuda on the night of March 22 2009 at the homestead of headman Esau Ndokwane in Nemangwe after they had taken the deceased captive.

An autopsy by physician Patron Venge which was presented as exhibit to the court stated the deceased died as a result of injuries to the cervical spine.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project managed to speak to the father of the victim soon after the court's decision was made. Despite the court sentence, the father told the ZPP monitor that they still want compensation from the parents of the victims in order to bury their son.

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