The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa Post Correspondent
A HELPLESS three-year-old girl watched as her father brutally stabbed her mother to death in a shocking domestic violence dispute that turned nasty last Saturday night in Chipinge.
Residents were left weak-kneed as they could not fathom the gruesome act that was allegedly sparked by a flimsy domestic misunderstanding.
Livingstone Mudzura (30) who stays at House Number 1469 in Gaza high-density suburb allegedly stabbed his wife, Betty Mashava (27), on the chest with a knife.
The couple quarrelled after the husband insisted that he wanted to take their three-year- old daughter, Trephine, to his rural home in Mutasa.
The body of Mashava was later found the following day in a pool of blood near a drainage system. A neighbour, Sarudzai Sithole, who witnessed the incident, said the couple always quarrelled.
“They were not in good books,” she said.
“Betty and her husband fought regularly over a dispute to take their child to a traditional gathering at the husband’s rural area. Mudzura stabbed his wife with a knife on the chest. After he stabbed her, Mashava screamed for help saying her husband had killed her. In a confused state of mind, she ran away into the darkness and no-one knew where she was going.
“I tried to follow her, but to no avail. After committing the crime, Mudzura disappeared.
“He later returned the following morning after neighbours phoned him and told him that he had killed his wife,” said Sithole.
On Tuesday he appeared before senior Chipinge magistrate, Mr Noah Gwatidzo, charged with murder. He was asked to apply for bail at the High Court since he was facing a Third Schedule offence.
He will be back in court on May 16 for routine remand. Public prosecutor, Ms Edith Phiri, told the court that on April 29, the suspect woke up intending to proceed to his rural home at Domborutinhira Resettlement in Mutasa.
“The suspect picked up a quarrel with his wife and the quarrel was overheard by a neighbour, SarudzaiSithole (21) of House Number 1467 Gaza, Chipinge. Sithole woke up and went outside the house where she saw the suspect fighting with his wife. During the fight there was another person who was trying to refrain the suspect,” she said.
Ms Phiri said Sithole heard Mashava screaming saying she had been stabbed with a knife by Mudzura at a dangerous part of her body.
“After being stabbed with a knife, Mashava fled into the darkness where Mudzura pursued her. After about five minutes, Sithole saw Mudzura coming back to the house alone.
“Upon seeing that Sithole was witnessing the incident, Mudzura threatened to kill her. Mudzura went inside and immediately left in a hurry in the company of the couple’s three year-old daughter, Threphine. Sithole later went out to look for Mashava along the direction she had fled to, but could not find her.”
The court heard that the body of Mashava was discovered at around 5am by Sithole who was doing her daily chores after she was informed by a passer-by.
“Sithole then proceeded to the scene and saw the now deceased lying in a pool of blood dead.
“She woke up other neighbours and a report was made to the police.
“The police attended the scene and the body of Mashava was conveyed to Chipinge District Hospital for post-mortem examination,” said Ms Phiri.
