Man who axed his girlfriend 12 years ago demands to be freed

A MAN who allegedly killed his girlfriend with an axe has asked a judge to halt his prosecution, claiming that he cannot possibly get a fair trial over the murder committed 12 years ago.

Vincent Dube, 39, of Kezi, Matabeleland South, was 27 when he allegedly struck his 19-year-old girlfriend, Memory Nobukhosi Ndlovu, with an axe twice in the head after accusing her of cheating on him with a local school teacher.

Dube has been a free man since December 2002 when a Kezi magistrate refused a prosecution request for further remand. He was re-arrested early this year and is due to stand trial on May 17 before Justice Lawrence Kamocha at the Bulawayo High Court. But through his lawyer, Innocent Rujeko Mafirakureva, Dube has filed an application seeking a permanent stay of prosecution arguing he had been denied a speedy and fair trial.

The lawyer cited Section 18(2) of the Constitution which says "if any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.

"The accused is making an application on the basis that there has been delay in bringing him to trial. He was charged in October 2001 as he appeared at the Kezi Court where further remand was refused on December 19, 2012. Since then, nothing has been done by the State to try him," said Mafirakureva.

"It is common cause that passage of time might have affected memories and even witnesses are even unlikely to be reliable considering the time that has lapsed."

He said Dube resided at his homestead in Kezi and police would occasionally visit and take him to the police station, but they did not send him to court.

Whisper Mabhaudi, for the state, is opposing the application arguing that there was evidence that Dube had once disappeared and his whereabouts were not known for several years.

Justice Kamocha will rule on the application on May 17 when the trial is expected to resume.

Prosecutors say on a date in October 2001, local school teacher David Nunu sent some pupils to ask Dube's girlfriend to visit him at the school.

But Dube sent the pupils back and verbally warned Nunu against having an affair with his girlfriend. A day later, Nunu is again said to have sent a message for Ndlovu to pay him a visit, incensing Dube who accused his girlfriend of cheating on him. He allegedly armed himself with an axe and struck Ndlovu twice in the head. Ndlovu's body was found by neighbours with the axe still lodged in her head.

Meanwhile, Justice Kamocha has signed an order directing the Zimbabwe Prison Services to send Dube for medical treatment for injuries sustained in February when he fell from a prison truck.

His lawyer said he had been refused treatment for injuries to the head and neck.