Woman hires hit man to kill lover's wife

A woman tried to hire a hitman to kill her lover's wife, a court has heard.

Judith Makwara appeared before Harare regional magistrate Temba Kuwanda yesterday facing allegations of conspiracy to commit murder.

Makwara is a congregant at Lead International Ministry and is suspected of having an extramarital affair with the church's chief executive officer Lovejoy Tirivepi – Charity Muzorewa's husband.

During trial, Keith Vera - engaged to hire the hit man - told the court that he met Makwara when she brought her visitors from England to stay at his guest house in Marlborough.

"When Makwara brought her guests to my lodge, she told me that she was renovating a house in Hatfield and since I was in the construction industry, we began communicating. She later told me that Muzorewa's husband who was in England was the one who had assigned her to manage renovations at the Hatfield house," Vera said.

"On one of the occasions, she told me that Muzorewa had returned from England and she wanted bouncers trained in karate. I took her to Mbare and I introduced her to Clover Musariri, my former trainer.

"We had a meeting and Makwara told Musariri that she wanted Muzorewa beaten up. She also intimated that she would need security after Musariri would have completed the mission. When the meeting ended, Musariri had told Makwara that he needed money to complete the assignment."

According to State papers, Musariri had been promised $2 000 by Makwara for killing Muzorewa.

The case was postponed to May 30 for continuation. Prosecutor Chipo Matambo said the matter came to light on April 14, around 12pm, when Muzorewa received a phone call from Musariri informing her that he had been assigned by Makwara to kill her. It was alleged that Musariri then requested to meet with Muzorewa but she refused fearing for her life. She filed a police report the following day.

Muzorewa said she became aware that Makwara was having an adulterous affair with her husband and believed that to be the motive behind the murder plot.

It is further stated that Muzorewa fears that since the first murder plot failed, Makwara may find new hit men that are not as moral as Musariri.

The police managed to interview Musariri on April 22 and recorded a statement from him which shall be produced during trial.