SUSPECTED girlfriend murderer, Pritchard Zimondi yesterday stunned the Monalisa Chinomona’s family when he claimed in court that he lived-in with his late girlfriend with the family’s consent.
CHARLES LAITON
Zimondi made the remarks in the continuation of his murder trial where he is accused of grisly killing Monalisa after she had allegedly turned down his request for sex in 2012.
Chinomona’s family murmured in disagreement after Zimondi’s utterances.
Zimondi had been asked by High Court judge Justice Hlekani Mwayera to clarify what he meant when he told the court that he and Monalisa used to sleep over at each other’s residences.
Justice Mwayera asked Zimondi to clarify whether both families had consented to the pair sleeping together overnight and staying as husband and wife.
Zimondi responded: “To a lesser extent yes, we were staying as husband and wife and I used to sleep over at her residence during the presence of her mother while her father would be at his farm and she also used to sleep over at my place with the blessing of my mother.”
Zimondi, who at some point giggled while being led by his lawyer Norman Mugiya over the use of slang in court, had some difficulties in explaining where he got the pant and bra that was recovered in his possession upon his arrest.
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Prosecutor Editor Mavuto asked Zimondi to tell the court the correct position after he had given three contradicting versions of where he got the items.
“You have told this court that you got the pant and the bra from your aunt in Harare, but in your bail statement you said you bought the items in town for your girlfriend and in another supplementary bail statement you told the court you bought the items in Gweru, now which of the three statements is correct?” Mavuto asked.
Zimondi said the correct version was that he got the items from his aunt and he wanted to take them to Monalisa as samples.
He also failed to reconcile the time by which he left Gweru on the day Monalisa was murdered prompting Mavuto to accuse him of lying under oath.
Zimondi claimed Monalisa was killed by his rival only identified as Vitalis.
Zimondi, who came to court with his Bible and a Christian magazine, denied killing Monalisa arguing he loved her and was surprised to learn of her sudden death on the day in question.
The trial was postponed to April 14 when Zimondi is expected to call his three defence witnesses.
