News / National
Woman 'tired of living' poisons her two children to death
28 Jun 2013 at 13:49hrs | Views
A MURAMBINDA woman who poisoned her two children to death last year said she did so because she was 'tired of living', a High Court judge has heard.
While testifying in a murder case in which Pamela Marindire (19) of Marindire Village is alleged to have administered poison to her children - Panashe and Pamela - before Justice Hungwe, the investigating officer, Assistant Inspector Francis Chiriga, said the accused told him that she killed her own children because she was fed up with life.
He said she admitted to giving the children poison and also took the same in a bid to end her life as well.
"She said she was tired of living and also that she was an orphan. She wanted to take her own life and that of her children because she was fed up," he said.
The investigating officer also told the court that when he found out that prior to the murder the accused had an argument with her sister-in-law over the upkeep of her step son whom she was accusing of denying food.
Defence lawyer Mrs Memory Mandingwa from the Legal Resources Foundation said her client cannot be solely blamed for her actions because she was living a difficult life.
She said as a young woman, she was overburdened with the load of being made to look after her husband's sick grandmother, her stepson as well as her own deceased children.
The lawyer said the accused went through a momentary insanity when she committed the murder.
"In the absence of a satisfactory explanation as to why she committed the murder the investigating police officer should have taken the accused for mental check up to find out whether she was in her normal senses," she said.
The defence lawyer also placed the blame for death of the children on the accused's husband, Kanganisai Marindire, whom she said made life difficult for her client hence the resultant poisoning of the children.
Justice Hungwe adjourned the case to next Tuesday to allow the defence to call upon a psychiatrist.
Allegations are that on June 24 last year at around 12pm, a misunderstanding arose between the accused and her aunt, Ratidzo Marindire over the alleged ill-treatment her stepson, Tichasangana Masindire(7).
This did not go down well with Pamela, who then took a bottle of a pesticide from her bedroom and went to a nearby Machiva River with her children and poisoned them.
After noting that they were dead, she then took the same substance herself. She returned home the following day in an unstable and staggering condition and revealed to her husband that she had killed her children and had also consumed the same poisonous substance.
She then collapsed and lost consciousness.
Her husband, with the aid of villagers went to the river and recovered the minors' corpses, while Pamela was rushed to the Murambinda Mission Hospital where she was treated.
While testifying in a murder case in which Pamela Marindire (19) of Marindire Village is alleged to have administered poison to her children - Panashe and Pamela - before Justice Hungwe, the investigating officer, Assistant Inspector Francis Chiriga, said the accused told him that she killed her own children because she was fed up with life.
He said she admitted to giving the children poison and also took the same in a bid to end her life as well.
"She said she was tired of living and also that she was an orphan. She wanted to take her own life and that of her children because she was fed up," he said.
The investigating officer also told the court that when he found out that prior to the murder the accused had an argument with her sister-in-law over the upkeep of her step son whom she was accusing of denying food.
Defence lawyer Mrs Memory Mandingwa from the Legal Resources Foundation said her client cannot be solely blamed for her actions because she was living a difficult life.
She said as a young woman, she was overburdened with the load of being made to look after her husband's sick grandmother, her stepson as well as her own deceased children.
The lawyer said the accused went through a momentary insanity when she committed the murder.
The defence lawyer also placed the blame for death of the children on the accused's husband, Kanganisai Marindire, whom she said made life difficult for her client hence the resultant poisoning of the children.
Justice Hungwe adjourned the case to next Tuesday to allow the defence to call upon a psychiatrist.
Allegations are that on June 24 last year at around 12pm, a misunderstanding arose between the accused and her aunt, Ratidzo Marindire over the alleged ill-treatment her stepson, Tichasangana Masindire(7).
This did not go down well with Pamela, who then took a bottle of a pesticide from her bedroom and went to a nearby Machiva River with her children and poisoned them.
After noting that they were dead, she then took the same substance herself. She returned home the following day in an unstable and staggering condition and revealed to her husband that she had killed her children and had also consumed the same poisonous substance.
She then collapsed and lost consciousness.
Her husband, with the aid of villagers went to the river and recovered the minors' corpses, while Pamela was rushed to the Murambinda Mission Hospital where she was treated.
Source - Manica Post
