Josias Mutikani (29) of Zaka, Masvingo was sentenced to life in prison for killing his 86-year old employer, Ms Gill, after she had fired him. After fatally assaulting her with a metal bar, Mutikani stole a laptop, a Nokia cellphone, $3 800, £200 and R2 000 from a safe, before fleeing the country. He was arrested in 2012 after returning from Malawi when he handed himself over to the police.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha found him guilty of murder with actual intent and sentenced him to life. In passing sentence, Justice Kamocha said:
The accused spent a long period of pre-trial incarceration through no fault of his. This court agrees with both legal representatives that it is a mitigatory feature and in the result, he escapes the death sentence. However, a look at the other side of the coin reveals that the accused person is inherently wicked, killing the deceased in a callous fashion
The mitigatory factor has saved him from capital punishment. However, his wickedness makes him unsuitable to join society in his life and accordingly he is sentenced to life imprisonment
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