A 25-year-old Zimbabwean student at a South African university, Alfred Machipisa, has been jailed for four years after he was convicted for killing Harare businessman and socialite Shingi Mukandi in a hit and run road accident last year. He was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to four years in jail. He will, however, serve three years effective after one year was set aside a year of his sentence.
He was accused of failing to stop after a fatal road accident to both render assistance and report the accident to the police within the mandatory 24 hours.
Machipisa will, however, serve 3 years effective after Harare magistrate Edwin Marecha set aside a year of his sentence conditionally. In his ruling, Marecha said
The accused deserves punishment for his gross negligence. A fine will trivialise the offences and worsening his case is that he did not stop after the accident.
He only pitched up at the police after three days of a manhunt. Maybe if he had stopped to check on the victim, if he was still alive or needed help, it would have been different.
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