Three Chivi family members were last week slapped with 15 years’ imprisonment each when High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe convicted them of murder with constructive intent after fatally assaulting their uncle whom they accused of bewitching them. The trio accused their uncle of possessing goblins and charms that were allegedly hindering them from securing employment and prospering, the court heard.
Sitting at Masvingo High Court Circuit, Justice Hungwe spared Mugwandu Biza (28), Onward Nhekeya (25) and Pinias Jeremiah (30) from the hangman’s noose following their conviction for murdering 79-year-old Gungwa Chipere three years ago. The murder is said to have occurred at Chibaya village in Chivi on November 17 at around 7:30pm.
Justice Hungwe heard that on the day in question, the trio left their beer-drinking place after hatching a plan to assault the now deceased. Later Biza, Nhekeya and Jeremiah force-marched Chipere outside his homestead and ordered him to lie on his stomach and he complied. The trio took turns to assault the old man with logs all over his body before force-marching him to another homestead where they also bludgeoned him with logs.
Chipere’s wife, Shuvai, is said to have watched in horror from a distance as her husband was being murdered. He screamed for help, but no one came to save him and as a result he suffered cervical spine and multiple rib fractures.
