Man smashes brother with brick on the face in row over meat

Gibson Mhaka

A 20-YEAR-OLD man ran riot and hit his 26-year-old brother with a brick on the face as punishment for cooking vegetables on Independence Day instead of meat.

Tauya Mushove from Marowe Village under Chief Negomo, Mashonaland Central province   became furious when his elder brother Princewell Mushove cooked vegetables instead of meat.

For the offence Tauya appeared before Concession magistrate Joshua Nembaware charged with physical abuse as defined in Section 3 (1) (a) as read with Section 4 of the Domestic Violence Act Chapter 5:16.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment and 12 months were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar crime within a period of five years.

The remaining 12 months were further suspended on condition that he completes 420 hours of unpaid labour at Kanyemba Primary School.

In mitigation Tauya pleaded for forgiveness saying when he committed the offence he was drunk adding that on the day he was also craving for meat since it was Independence Day.

For the State Ellen Tanatswa Chingono told the court that on 18 April and at around 8pm Tauya arrived home from a beer drink.

The court heard that when he opened the pots he discovered that his brother had cooked vegetables instead of meat.

He then confronted his brother asking him why had prepared supper with vegetables.

A misunderstanding reportedly ensued between the two brothers.

In a protest-like fashion Tauya started throwing away the pots before he went outside and picked a brick which he used to hit his brother on the face until he was a “bloody mess”.

His brother, who sustained injuries on the nose, went and reported the matter to the police leading to Tauya’s arrest.