The goat that haunts: Hwange man jailed for bizarr...

The goat that haunts: Hwange man jailed for bizarre theft

Zim Now Writer

In a bizarre turn of events that would make even the most seasoned detective scratch their heads, a Hwange man found himself behind bars after a goat-stealing escapade that ended with him selling the very meat he had stolen back to the rightful owner.

Shylock Zulu (28), a resident of Mashala Village, thought he had outsmarted fate when he made off with his neighbor Thabani Sibanda's goat. The audacious theft, however, took an unexpected twist when Zulu, faced with a dilemma, decided to butcher the stolen animal and try his luck at a quick sale.

Fate, it seems, had other plans. Zulu, with a touch of misplaced confidence, brazenly approached Sibanda himself, offering the goat meat for a mere US$15, claiming it was bush buck he had hunted.

But Sibanda, a man of keen observation, sensed something amiss. The meat, he suspected, bore an uncanny resemblance to the goat that had mysteriously vanished from his kraal earlier that day.

A wave of suspicion washed over him, and he quickly alerted the authorities. Investigations swiftly followed, and Zulu's ill-conceived scheme began to unravel. The evidence, it turned out, was as undeniable as it was bizarre.

Facing the full weight of the law, Zulu was convicted of stock theft. The court, in a display of both justice and a touch of theatricality, sentenced him to six months imprisonment. However, recognizing a glimmer of remorse, the judge suspended half of the sentence, granting Zulu a chance at redemption on the condition that he remain law-abiding for the next five years.

The remaining three months were suspended on the condition that Zulu restitutes Sibanda ZWG$1057, a symbolic gesture acknowledging the profound impact of his actions.