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Gang rapists to hang for murder

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TWO Zvishavane men who raped a 51-year-old woman before killing her and taking turns to have sex with the corpse were on Wednesday sentenced to death by a High Court judge.

BY STEPHEN CHADENGA

TWO Zvishavane men who raped a 51-year-old woman before killing her and taking turns to have sex with the corpse were on Wednesday sentenced to death by a High Court judge.

Givemore Mutumba (25) and Tatenda Ngwenya (22), both of Chief Mazvihwa’s area raped the woman, who had her nine months old grandchild strapped to her back before murdering her and throwing her body in a disused mine.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva on circuit in Gweru convicted the duo of murder with constructive intent and described their level of cruelty as shocking before sentencing them to death.

Justice Takuva said it was even more shocking that Ngwenya and Mutumba raped the corpse and threw the body in a disused mine shaft with the baby still strapped to the back of the deceased.

Prosecutor Samuel Pedzisai said on December 21, 2017, the accused hatched a plan to rob the deceased.

The duo, proceeded to her homestead at around 8:30pm armed with a machete, where they found her preparing to go to bed.

Ngwenya and Mutumba threw stones into the hut where her other grandchildren were sleeping.

When the deceased heard her grandchildren crying for help, she rushed to the hut, and used her body to block the door from being opened.

Ngwenya, stabbed her through an opening and forced the door open, but the women and her grandchildren managed to escape to a neighbour’s homestead.

The deceased, however, went back to her homestead the same night, but Ngwenya and Mutumba attacked her with a machete, dragged her to a nearby bush before ransacking her home.

They then later took turns to rape her before killing her and throwing her body into a disused mine shaft.

The following day at around 2am, villagers heard cries of the baby from the shaft, where they went to retrieve both the toddler and the deceased.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to the arrest of the accused.