PRISON OFFICER'S KILLERS JAILED

Mutare High Court Judge, Justice Isaac Muzenda on Tuesday, sentenced two men accused of murdering Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services officer, Tapiwa Mutyasira (29), whose body was dumped along the Mutare-Harare railway line, where it was crushed into pieces by a goods train.

The late youthful prison officer was murdered on March 4, 2023.

Three accused persons — Innocent Itai Chikwengo (38), Brighton Gowero (29), and Takunda Makoni (21) — were arrested in connection with Mutyasira’s murder. Justice Muzenda convicted Gowero and Makoni of murder after overwhelming evidence linking them to the commission of the offence was adduced in court. However, their co-accused, Chikwengo, was acquitted after the State failed to link him to the commission of the offence.

Several witnesses testified during the trial, linking Gowero and Makoni to the fatal attack of Mutyasira.

Justice Muzenda ruled that the prosecution, led by Mr Malvern Musarurwa, had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the two, and sentenced them to 45 years in jail each.

Justice Muzenda did not suspend any part of the sentence, noting that the convicts’ age had complicated the sentence variation, and he considered them fortunate to have escaped a life sentence.

Chikwengo, Gowero, and Makoni were facing murder charges in violation of Section 47(1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23), which criminalises the unlawful and intentional killing of another person.

Mr Musarurwa told the court that between March 3 and 4, 2023, the three men, acting in concert with another suspect still at large, attacked Mutyasira at the 13,5km peg along the Mutare-Harare railway line in Chikanga.

The court heard that the assailants used an unknown object to assault Mutyasira, before dumping his body on the railway line.

The men acted with the intent to kill or, at the very least, in full awareness that their actions could result in death.

Mutyasira sustained severe injuries and died as a result of the assault.

Mr Musarurwa also said after the fatal assault, the convicts stole his two cellphones, before dumping his body along the Mutare-Harare railway line near Chikanga, where his remains were later run over by a goods train, further mutilating the body.

A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Mellan Chibwowa at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital revealed that Mutyasira died from polytrauma, consistent with multiple severe injuries sustained during the attack.

Mutyasira was survived by a wife and two children.

The deceased’s father and Mutare District Area Prosecutor, Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira, welcomed the ruling, saying it brings closure to his grief stricken and struggling family.

“We have been following the trial, and it is true that two of them were convicted for 45 years, while the other one was acquitted. At least justice has been served, and the criminals’ conviction has brought closure to my family.

“There was a lot of confusion, as some were of the opinion that Tapiwa may have committed suicide. This conviction after a full trial has set the record straight, and we can now find closure as a family. It has been a traumatic experience,” he said. Manica Post

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