BY STAFF REPORTER
A 29-year-old Nkayi man has been sentenced to an effective three years in prison after an 11-year-old boy drowned while attempting to retrieve a bucket from a deep well.
According to court proceedings reported by The Chronicle, Prosper Dube of Sivomo Village under Chief Madliwa was convicted of culpable homicide by Bulawayo regional magistrate Sibonginkosi Mkandla. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with two years suspended on condition of good behaviour.
The court heard that on April 16, Dube was fetching water when the bucket used to draw water fell into a well about 15 metres deep.
Prosecutor Tsungai Mutapi told the court that despite being warned by the child’s mother against attempting to retrieve the bucket because it was dangerous, Dube later enlisted 11-year-old Siyabonga Sibanda to help him recover it.
The boy was lowered into the well using a rope but fell into the water and drowned. His body was later retrieved and taken to Nkayi District Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A post-mortem established the cause of death as mechanical asphyxia and drowning.
The matter was subsequently reported to police, leading to Dube’s arrest and prosecution.
VicFallsLive previously reported that the incident claimed two lives. After the child became trapped inside the well, a neighbour reportedly entered the shaft in an attempt to rescue him. The rescue effort ended in tragedy when the second victim also lost his life inside the well.
The deaths prompted an outpouring of grief in the community, with burial preparations drawing relatives, neighbours and local leaders as residents struggled to come to terms with the loss of the two lives.
The latest court ruling relates to the death of the 11-year-old boy whom Dube had initially sent into the well to retrieve the bucket.
