GWANDA – The trial of mining consultant Mr David Thompson, who is facing criminal insult charges and contravening the firearm act, began yesterday at Gwanda Magistrates Court. Mr Thompson is said to have threatened to shoot property assessors who were inspecting a property where he was resident.
The Gwanda businessman and member of a family of gold miners pleaded not guilty when the trial commenced.
Prosecutor Ngonidzashe Shumbe told the court that Mr Thompson used a racial slur to offend and degrade Mr Tafadzwa Bondoro, in contravention of section 95(1)(a) of the Criminal Law and Codification Act. He is also alleged to have pointed a firearm at the complainant, in contravention of section 95(1)(a) of the Firearms Act.
Shumbe told the court that on 26 November 2022 at house number 5AP 1st Avenue Gwanda, the complainants felt and believed their lives were at risk when Mr Thompson, armed with a firearm, emerged from the house saying that he had heard that they were ‘baboons by his gate’.
It is the State’s case that Mr Thompson intended to seriously impair the complainant’s dignity by the words or “realized there were huge possibilities that these words might impair Mr Bondoro’s dignity.”
When giving oral evidence in court, Mr Bondoro told the court that he and Mr Kevin Satiya approached Mr Thompson’s residence gate and advised him that they were from F&T, and wished to ask what time would be convenient for Rawson, a firm of professional property appraisers, to complete a property evaluation of the stand, as it was part of F&T’s real estate holdings in Gwanda.
“I was with Kelvin Satinya by the gate of Mr Thompson waiting to get approval to do property evaluation when a man approached us. We managed to introduce ourselves to the man and we enquired to see Mr Thompson. To our surprise Mr Thompson said ‘I am told there are baboons by the gate’. He was holding a rifle which he pointed at my chest before turning it onto Mr Satinya,” Mr Bondoro told the court. He said the rifle was pointing at his chest at a distance of about 1,5 metres.
Magistrate Lerato Nyathi rolled the matter over to 3 April for continuation of trial.
