A MAN from Gokwe took his wife from a church in Nkayi and dragged her to a bush where he allegedly brutally stabbed her with a pocket knife before dumping her body in a stream.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo heard this when Edmore Nyamazana, 35, of Nyamazana village under Chief Njelele area, appeared before her during a circuit in Hwange yesterday.
Nyamazana is facing a charge of murder in connection with the death of Lizzy Mpofu who was aged 33 at the time of her death in December 2011. Nyamazana had been on the run until his arrest in November last year.
Justice Moyo is expected to deliver judgment in the matter today.
Mpofu lived in Gweru with her husband and had visited her parents in Nkayi when the incident occurred.
Mpofu’s cousin, Samkeliso Sibanda, 47, in her testimony, narrated how Nyamazana stormed his wife’s church and ordered her to follow him under the guise that he wanted her to witness a break-in at their home in Gweru.
“On that particular day, Lizzy and I were attending a church service at Ginyilitshe village in Nkayi when Nyamazana came. He asked his wife to immediately leave church and join him on a journey to their home. When she tried to resist Nyamazana used force and I then joined them,” said Sibanda.
She said along the way, they met some local villagers who were in a donkey cart and they offered them a lift. Nyamazana refused to board the cart and ordered his wife not to join Sibanda in the cart.
“When I arrived home, Lizzy’s parents asked me about the whereabouts of their daughter and I explained to them that I had left her with her husband. We were shocked when we heard that she had been discovered lying dead in a stream the following morning,” said Sibanda.
Mpofu’s father, Office Amon Mpofu, 68, said his daughter and her husband had an undisclosed long standing domestic dispute.
His testimony corroborated Sibanda’s evidence.
“My daughter had a domestic dispute with her husband and at one time I sat down with her to discuss their problem but she insisted that it was just a minor issue without disclosing more. On that particular day, we had searched for Lizzy the whole day until we received news that she had been killed and I immediately suspected that Nyamazana was behind her death since they were last seen together by Sibanda the previous day when they left church together,” he said.
Mpofu described the murder of his daughter as gruesome.
“It was a terrible sight when I went to the scene and there was blood splattered all over. Lizzy had several wounds on the head, neck and cheek where the blade of the knife was lodged,” he said.
Nyamazana, in his defence through his lawyer, Tonderai Mukuku of Marondedze and Mukuku legal practitioners, denied the charge. He told the court that he was being framed.
“I didn’t commit the alleged crime. In fact, I was at my home in Gweru when it happened and I only got to know about it when police arrested me and forced me to travel with them to Nkayi for indications,” said Nyamazana.
He further claimed that he last saw his wife in 2009 when the two separated.
“When I was laid off, my wife ditched me and took our two children to her parents’ home in Nkayi and that was the last time I saw her until I heard that she had been killed. I’m not the one who committed the crime,” argued Nyamazana.
Prosecuting, Memory Munsaka said on December 2, 2011, Mpofu was attending a church service in Nkayi when her husband came from Gweru and took her.
The court heard that the two went outside and had a private discussion.
The two then allegedly left in the company of Sibanda heading towards the woman’s homestead.
“Along the way they met some people who were travelling in a donkey cart and they offered them a lift. Sibanda boarded the cart while Nyamazana refused and remained behind with his wife,” said Munsaka.
The court heard that Nyamazana dragged his wife to a nearby stream where he allegedly stabbed her several times on the neck, cheek and head and fled from the scene.
The body was discovered by a villager the following day and he informed Mpofu’s family who in turn made a police report.
According to the post mortem results, pathologists concluded that the cause of death was due to multiple neck stabbing, murder and haemorrhage shock.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo heard this when Edmore Nyamazana, 35, of Nyamazana village under Chief Njelele area, appeared before her during a circuit in Hwange yesterday.
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| Edmore Nyamazana |
Justice Moyo is expected to deliver judgment in the matter today.
Mpofu lived in Gweru with her husband and had visited her parents in Nkayi when the incident occurred.
Mpofu’s cousin, Samkeliso Sibanda, 47, in her testimony, narrated how Nyamazana stormed his wife’s church and ordered her to follow him under the guise that he wanted her to witness a break-in at their home in Gweru.
“On that particular day, Lizzy and I were attending a church service at Ginyilitshe village in Nkayi when Nyamazana came. He asked his wife to immediately leave church and join him on a journey to their home. When she tried to resist Nyamazana used force and I then joined them,” said Sibanda.
She said along the way, they met some local villagers who were in a donkey cart and they offered them a lift. Nyamazana refused to board the cart and ordered his wife not to join Sibanda in the cart.
“When I arrived home, Lizzy’s parents asked me about the whereabouts of their daughter and I explained to them that I had left her with her husband. We were shocked when we heard that she had been discovered lying dead in a stream the following morning,” said Sibanda.
Mpofu’s father, Office Amon Mpofu, 68, said his daughter and her husband had an undisclosed long standing domestic dispute.
His testimony corroborated Sibanda’s evidence.
“My daughter had a domestic dispute with her husband and at one time I sat down with her to discuss their problem but she insisted that it was just a minor issue without disclosing more. On that particular day, we had searched for Lizzy the whole day until we received news that she had been killed and I immediately suspected that Nyamazana was behind her death since they were last seen together by Sibanda the previous day when they left church together,” he said.
Mpofu described the murder of his daughter as gruesome.
“It was a terrible sight when I went to the scene and there was blood splattered all over. Lizzy had several wounds on the head, neck and cheek where the blade of the knife was lodged,” he said.
Nyamazana, in his defence through his lawyer, Tonderai Mukuku of Marondedze and Mukuku legal practitioners, denied the charge. He told the court that he was being framed.
“I didn’t commit the alleged crime. In fact, I was at my home in Gweru when it happened and I only got to know about it when police arrested me and forced me to travel with them to Nkayi for indications,” said Nyamazana.
He further claimed that he last saw his wife in 2009 when the two separated.
“When I was laid off, my wife ditched me and took our two children to her parents’ home in Nkayi and that was the last time I saw her until I heard that she had been killed. I’m not the one who committed the crime,” argued Nyamazana.
Prosecuting, Memory Munsaka said on December 2, 2011, Mpofu was attending a church service in Nkayi when her husband came from Gweru and took her.
The court heard that the two went outside and had a private discussion.
The two then allegedly left in the company of Sibanda heading towards the woman’s homestead.
“Along the way they met some people who were travelling in a donkey cart and they offered them a lift. Sibanda boarded the cart while Nyamazana refused and remained behind with his wife,” said Munsaka.
The court heard that Nyamazana dragged his wife to a nearby stream where he allegedly stabbed her several times on the neck, cheek and head and fled from the scene.
The body was discovered by a villager the following day and he informed Mpofu’s family who in turn made a police report.
According to the post mortem results, pathologists concluded that the cause of death was due to multiple neck stabbing, murder and haemorrhage shock.
