TWO Zvishavane villagers, who gang-raped a 51-year-old
woman who had her nine-month-old grandchild strapped on her back and brutally
murdered her before taking turns to have sex with the corpse, have been
sentenced to death by hanging.
The villagers, the court heard, threw the body down a
disused mine shaft together with the child crying and still strapped to the
body’s back.
Givemore Mutumba (25) and Tatenda Ngwenya (22) both of
Chief Mazvihwa’s area, were convicted of murder with constructive intent by
Bulawyo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva on Circuit in Gweru. Passing
sentence, Justice Takuva said the duo’s level of cruelty was shocking.
He said the murder was committed in aggravating
circumstances and therefore death sentence was the only appropriate punishment.
He said it was shocking that Ngwenya and Mutumba even raped
the corpse and thereafter threw the body in a disused mine shaft with the baby
still strapped to the back of the body.
“You committed a heinous crime in a horrific manner, your
level of cruelty is shocking as you acted with untold brutality.
“The murder was brutal, callous and committed on an
innocent elderly woman out of greed and not need. You decided to satisfy your
sexual needs on an innocent woman. There was some premeditation and you threw
her body down a seven-metre deep shaft while her grandchild was still strapped
on her back,” said Justice Takuva.
“Your degree of cruelty in this murder is shocking and such
people should not be allowed back in society. The courts have a duty to protect
the sanctity of life because this kind of conduct cannot be tolerated. You are
both hereby found guilty of murder with constructive intent and you are both
sentenced to death by hanging.”
For the State, Mr Samuel Pedzisayi told the court that on
December 21, 2017, Ngwenya and Mutumba hatched a plan to rob the deceased of
her property. He said the duo proceeded to her homestead armed with a machete
and found her preparing to retire to bed around 8:30PM.
At the homestead and in the kitchen, the court heard, were
the deceased’s four other grandchildren.
“The accused persons threw stones into the hut. The
deceased heard her grandchildren’s cries of help and ran to the kitchen where
she blocked the door from opening with her body,” said Mr Pedzisayi.
He said Ngwenya inserted a machete through an opening and
forced open the door. Mr Pedzisayi said the woman and her grandchildren escaped
to a neighbour’s homestead.
“The deceased decided to go back to her homestead the same
night and she had her nine-month old grandchild strapped to her back. Ngwenya
and Mutumba attacked her with a machete and dragged her to a nearby bush before
ransacking her home,” he said.
Mr Pedzisayi said acting in common purpose the two accused
persons took turns to rape her before and after she died while her grandchild
was still strapped to her back.
“They dragged the lifeless body which still had the child
strapped to its back and threw it in a seven-metre deep disused mine shaft. The
following day around 2AM — a villager heard the cries of the baby from the
shaft and retrieved the body of the deceased,” he said.
Mr Pedzisayi said the deceased’s body had multiple bruises
on the face and neck, a deep cut on the left side of the forehead and semen on
the private parts.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to the
arrest of Ngwenya and Mutumba. Chronicle
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