A MBERENGWA man has been handed two death sentences over the brutal slaying of his father and brother during a row over RESPECT.
Justice Lawrence Kamocha, on circuit in Gweru, sentenced Kudakwashe Mtetwa of Chikwangwadza village in Mberengwa to death after finding him guilty of murder with actual intent.
The double killing followed a row between Kudakwashe and his sister, Charity, on January 30, 2009. He had accused her of DISRESPECT.
Kudakwashe, 28, viciously attacked his father with a kitchen knife, stabbing him several times before disembowelling his brother. The victims died on the spot.
Prosecuting, Diana Msipa told the court that Kudakwashe, his father Meck, his brother Freddy, his mother Marita and his sister Charity were sitting outside the family’s kitchen hut just after 7.30PM discussing the next day’s work when a row broke out.
Kudakwashe, the court heard, was angry with Charity’s interjections and lashed out at her for “undermining his authority as a brother”.
He grabbed a sjambok and struck her several times before their 66-year-old father stepped in to restrain him.
The younger Mtetwa turned on his father, pushing him to the ground before launching into a frenzied knife attack in front of the rest of the horrified family.
The two women fled the home, but Freddy stayed behind hoping to persuade his brother to stop the attack.
But the court heard Kudakwashe simply turned his bloodied knife on his brother, ripping open his abdomen.
Charity and his mum returned to find a bloody scene with both Meck and Freddy dead from their wounds. Kudakwashe had fled the scene but was later arrested.
In mitigation, he told the court he was drunk, but the judge was not persuaded after three state witnesses, including his mother and sister, refuted his evidence.