A beer-induced brawl in Zimbabwe resulted in the death of a two month old baby who was strapped on her mother’s back after a stone thrown at one of the imbibers missed its target and struck the child.
The incident has landed Cloudius Muchenje at the High Court where he is appearing before High Court judge, Justice Hlekani Mwayera facing murder charges.
Senior public prosecutor, Mr Malvern Musarurwa said Muchenje and the father of the late child, Talent Chirombo, were drinking beer at the Zvimba homestead in Chiendambuya when tragedy struck.
“The late Anxious Chirombo was aged two months at the time of his death. On the fateful day, the deceased’s father was drinking beer with other patrons who included the accused person,” said Mr Musarurwa.
As the patrons partied, Muchenje slapped Lovemore Gondo on the face. He accused him of stepping on his foot.
“Chirombo restrained the accused person from further assaulting Gondo and pushed him out of the hut. The accused person bit Chirombo on the hand and went on to assault him with fists,” said Mr Musarurwa.
Muchenje picked up stones and threw them at Chirombo. One of the stones struck Anxious who was strapped on his mother’s back as she was trying to stop the fight.
The baby died instantly.
A post mortem conducted by Dr Tendai Nyafesa revealed that the baby died due to severe head injuries.
Muchenje is, however, denying the charges.
He is admitting that he had a fight with Chirombo, but says he did not throw the stones as alleged.
Instead, he told the court that it was Chirombo who was using all sorts of weapons to attack him.
Muchenje says he never saw Anxious’ mother at the beer binge and says something else might have happened to the baby.
The trial continues 0n 18 December.
