The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
NEMESIS has caught up with an imprisoned Zimunya man who murdered his 73-year-old grandmother, drew her blood and other fluids as well as her pubic hair for ritual purposes as he is now being tormented by her avenging spirit.
Tonderai Makuvaza(29) narrated his ordeal at Mutare High Court on Tuesday during his murder trial.
However, this did not spare Makuvaza a lengthy jail term after Justice Isaac Muzenda sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment.
Makuvaza murdered his paternal grandmother for ritual purposes in 2011.
He told the court that his late grandmother’s avenging spirit is giving him a torrid time since his incarceration in 2012.
The murder trial should have commenced in 2018, but was adjourned with the court doubting Makuvaza’s mental status, something he attributes to the avenging spirit.
The court ordered Makuvaza to be examined by psychiatrists and he has since been cleared of any mental health issues, hence the commencement of the trial.
“His family is in the process of appeasing the avenging spirit as it has been tormenting my client from within the prison walls since 2018. He has been having sleepless nights as his late grandmother constantly visits him when he is asleep. This is making his prison life terrible.
“In 2018 when the trial was supposed to commence, he was traumatised by the avenging spirit and he had to be medically examined,” said Makuvaza’s defence attorney, Mrs MuchanyaraNdafa.
Witnesses told the court that Makuvaza confessed that he was part of a gang that was contracted to kill his grandmother by a Zimunya businessman identified as Witness Chiripamberi.
In sentencing Makuvaza, Justice Muzenda spoke strongly against ritual killings.
He said businesspeople must pursue modern ways of making money, instead of shedding blood and depriving innocent people the right to life.
“You are lucky that you were a youthful offender when you committed the crime, otherwise you would have been a perfect candidate for the death sentence.
“For conniving with your accomplices, planning on how best to kill your 73-year-old helpless grandmother, killing her, then collecting her blood, bodily fluids and pubic hair, the court has found you guilty of murder with actual intent.
“Had you not had actual intent to kill your grandmother, you would not have been part of the gang that was contracted by the businessman. You also attended the meetings on how to kill the woman and make way with her blood and bodily fluids. You knew quite well that you had to kill her to get the blood and fluids because no-one would allow you to take such things from their body while alive,” said Justice Muzenda.
Makuvaza was only 21 when he murdered his grandmother.
The court heard that on October 18, 2011, Gogo Jesman Chikande was murdered in her kitchen hut in Muranda Village under Chief Zimunya.
When her lifeless body was discovered, it had a deep wound on the head. Blood was oozing from her eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
She had also soiled herself and bloodstains were on the kitchen hut’s walls and the floor.
A post mortem conducted concluded that the elderly woman died from a cervical spine fracture due to assault.
Until January 2012, police could not link anyone to the crime, until Makuvaza was arrested on stock theft charges.
He then confessed that he had murdered his grandmother in cold blood.
Mrs Tatenda Magwagwa prosecuted.
