By Judith Nyuke
A 43-year-old Madzibaba who was facing charges of culpable homicide after being accused of causing the death of a Harare resident whom he accused of stealing his gearbox has been cleared by a Harare Regional magistrate.
Erico Nyaira was initially arraigned on a murder charge before the State subsequently reduced the count to culpable homicide.
Nyaira who was being represented by Tafadzwa Muvhami of Muvhami Attorneys pleaded not guilty to culpable homicide charges.
In his defense, he told the court that on the day in question he only asked the deceased person Pearson Mukome about his gearbox which had been stolen.
He claimed that Mukome reacted with anger seizing his T-shirt because he believed Nyaira was accusing him of theft.
After Makome was restrained, Nyaira left the scene to report the stolen property.
“If indeed according to the evidence of the deceased family that the accused pushed the deceased and he fell and died, surely they would not have allowed the accused to leave the crime scene. The fact that he was called almost 30 minutes after he left the place, clearly proves that he is not responsible negligently or otherwise, of the death of the deceased,” Muvhami said.
The State presented three witnesses. Two of them who are his wife and son, testified that a physical confrontation took place, but one witness who was not related to Mukome, contradicted this stating the men were merely shouting and pointing fingers at one another without physical contact.
In his judgement, magistrate Lazini Ncube said Nyaira cannot be held accountable for Mukome’s death because the post mortem results point to heart problem related death and not assault.
“Postmortem was conducted and according to the result, death was due to cardiogenic shock and acute myocardic infarction (commonly known as a heart attack) which cannot be linked to assault.
“So according to the postmortem, death was not due to assault. So, if death cannot be linked to the assault it therefore follows that death cannot be attributed to the accused.
“According to all the three state witnesses, the deceased was a well-known BP patient with a heart problem.
“According to the third witness the deceased was never assaulted by the accused. Even if there was assault, that is, being held by the collar, the report states that death was not due to assault. So even assuming that he had been assaulted, the assault never caused the deceased’s death according to the postmortem.
“Once the death is not linked to any assault, it therefore follows that the accused can not be held liable for the death of the deceased. According to the Doctor the death was heart related,” said magistrate Ncube.
The State represented by Ephraim Zinyandu failed to prove that the now deceased person, Mukome, was being implicated for stealing Nyaira’s gearbox which was left for safety, sometime during the month of January 2025 at sports car park at Kambuzuma section 5, Harare.
It is the State’s case that Nyaira went to Mukome’s car park but could not locate his gearbox which led the accused person to confront the now deceased and grabbed him by his collar and pushed him once resulting in Mukome falling on the ground which led to his death.
He was later pronounced dead at Sally Mugabe Hospital on 22 February 2025.
