Woman steals goat, slaughters it, frames boyfriend

IN an incident that left the community of Chachachunda stunned, a 54-year-old woman stole a goat, which she slaughtered and later framed her boyfriend for the crime saying she was given the meat as a love present.

Edde Ndlovu of Mwemba Village appeared together with her boyfriend Barnabas Shoko (42) also of  Mwemba Village before provincial magistrate, Miss Lindiwe Maphosa, accused of contravening section 114 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) chapter 9:23  - "Stock theft".

The court heard that on 10 May 2012 at around 5pm, Ndlovu selected a brown she-goat from amongst a flock of 20, which were grazing inside a garden near her homestead.

She slaughtered the goat and took the meat to her homestead. She then hid the skin, head and legs in a hole in a bush within the village.

Later that day as the herd boy was driving the goats into the kraal he noticed that a brown she-goat was missing from the flock and alerted some villagers resulting in a search being conducted. The search led to the discovery of meat wrapped in a blanket in one of Ndlovu’s huts and she attempted to flee but was stopped by Shoko who was also at the scene.

On interrogation by the angry villagers, Ndlovu implicated Shoko arguing that he had given her the meat as a love present and she had no idea where it had come from. She led the villagers to where the carcass was hidden.

They were both handed over to police at Mwemba police base.

The value of the stolen goat was US$30 and only US$18 worth of the meat was recovered.

In his defence Shoko argued that he was being framed and he could not steal from the complainant, Stephen Ncube, as they were related.

His defence was collaborated by witnesses who were brought to testify. The state proved beyond doubt that Ndlovu had indeed stolen and slaughtered the goat.

Shoko was acquitted for lack of evidence to link him to the crime while Ndlovu was found guilty and ordered to pay restitution fee of $30 to Ncube failure of which would result in her being imprisoned.

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