A JEALOUS polygamist, Panganai Muchafa, escaped capital punishment last week and was slapped with a 14-year effective jail term after being convicted of killing his second wife over allegations of infidelity.
REPORT BY CHARLES LAITON
Muchafa of Checheche business centre in Chipinge, stabbed Musaemura Mapanga in the back with a kitchen knife following a heated argument over adultery allegations, killing her on the spot.
The incident occurred eight years ago at the couple’s rented house at Checheche.
The court heard that on July 23, 2005 Muchafa arrived home and found Mapanga in their bedroom.
Muchafa then accused his wife of bedding other men, an accusation which degenerated into a physical fight and in the process Muchafa grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her in the back.
After realising that Mapanga had died, Muchafa dragged the lifeless body outside the yard where he called for help, claiming she had been attacked by an unknown assailant.
However, the landlady Anne Bhila, whose house was just a few metres away from the couple’s room, told High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe in Mutare, that prior to the fateful incident, she had heard the couple quarrelling. Justice Hungwe found Muchafa guilty of murder with constructive intent and spared him from capital punishment.
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Meanwhile, two mentally challenged persons from Mutare were discharged on medical grounds after they appeared before the same court charged with murder.
The court heard that Raphael Tomeke struck and killed Tinashe Mahere with an axe in the forehead accusing him of letting his cattle graze in his maize field.
The incident occurred on February 28, 2010 at Mahere village.
The late Tinashe’s brother, Douglas, also sustained serious injuries after he was struck in the head and shoulder, but other villagers quickly moved in and restrained Tomeke, who was later certified to be a mentally-challenged patient by doctors.
In a different incident, a Mutare man Samuel Tsorai, struck and killed his brother with an iron bar and later hid the body in his bedroom.
The fatal incident occurred after Tsorai was angered by the now deceased who had ordered him to release two chickens and two puppies that were in his possession.
