A MAN died after a sustained brutal attack by a fellow villager he had denied a sip of his opaque beer.

Clifert Ndlovu, 51, was repeatedly struck with a knobkerry, kicked and punched all over the body, fracturing ALL his ribs and suffered extensive brain damage.

On Friday, Fundisani Ncube, 35, from the Madlambuzi area of Bulilima district, Matabeleland South, was jailed for 24 years after he was convicted of murder at the Bulawayo High Court.

Justice Nicholas Ndou told Ncube before sentencing: “You are raising a partial defence of provocation and intoxication. But the court believes there was no gross provocation on the facts presented during the trial.

“You were merely denied to drink beer and the court believes the State witnesses that you were not insulted, neither were you threatened with assault.”

The court heard how Ndlovu and his friends were drinking at Kungubo Business Centre on July 22, 2007, when Ncube approached and tried to help himself to their opaque beer which is normally shared between several drinkers.

When he was turned down, Ncube left the scene. He proceeded to steal a knobkerry and proceeded to lay an ambush on a pathway which he knew Ndlovu would be using on his way home.

Justice Ndou said: “You waylaid the deceased and his party and pounced on them resulting in his friends running away.

“You went on to deliver a barrage of blows with a knobkerry on the deceased’s torso resulting in him sustaining multiple injuries all over the body: scalp bruises, extensive bleeding in the brain, fractured rib four to eight on the right side and three to ten on the left side, lacerations on both lungs, contused heart and blood in the oral cavity.”

Justice Ndou noted that Ncube was “severely intoxicated” after drinking 750ml of spirits, home-brewed beer and some opaque beer as well as smoking four twists of mbanje,

But the judge said Ndlovu was fully aware his actions could result in murder, and had an option to walk away which he didn’t take.

The judge added: “The drunkenness did not disable the accused to form a legal intention to kill. The accused was reckless and foresaw the consequences of his actions.”

Ncube’s pro deo lawyer, Thandaza Masiye-Moyo, in mitigation, urged the court to take into account that his client was “unsophisticated”, having gone up to Grade Four and grown up in the village.

He also said given the amount of alcohol that Ncube had taken prior to the commission of the crime, this served as an extenuating circumstance.

A post-mortem report conducted at Ntoli Hospital found that Ndlovu had bled through his mouth and ears and also had multiple bruises and lacerations all over the body and right lower limb.

The report further states that he had extensive bleeding in the brain and multiple fractures in his rib cage. His heart, lungs and intestines had been damaged.

He also had a massive wound to the back of the head -- a result of a blow from a stone which felled Ndlovu, the court later heard.