A Chipinge commercial white farmer allegedly shot his employee thinking that it was a stray dog.
The farmer, Joubert Francois Johannes (36), of Lushof Farm pleaded not guilty to negligently causing serious bodily harm to the employee when he appeared before Chipinge magistrate Joshua Nembaware last week.
Johannes told the court that it was not his intention to shoot his employee, Frank Fuyana. Said Johannes:
It was drizzling and there was mist so I didn’t see the complainant.
Fuyana also told the magistrate that it was not his boss’s intention to harm him since he wanted to shoot at a pack of dogs that had invaded the farm.
Magistrate Nembaware ruled that the farmer had a case to answer.
It is the State’s case that both the accused and the complaint were under a shed on October 5, 2018, at around 6 pm when stray dogs entered the kraal.
After collecting a gun from the farmhouse, Johannes shot at the stray dogs, killing one instantly. Meanwhile, Fuyana had gone to the guardroom where a stray bullet hit him in the stomach.
Fuyana was rushed to the hospital, and a police report was made, leading to Johannes’s arrest.