Headmaster's wife explains murder motive

A FEMALE teacher who allegedly gruesomely murdered her husband this week said she had committed the offence after suffering a lot of abuses at the hands of her late husband.

Pamela Phiri-Bhowa told the court that she only remembered striking her husband with the axe once.

She said after the first strike, she was already blinded by the alleged horrors of abuse that had been perpetrated to her by the late Manners Bhowa since their marriage in 1991. Presiding over the matter was High Court Judge, Justice Charles Hungwe.

Representing the State was Mrs Jane-Rose Matsikidze, as Mutare lawyer, Ms Memory Mandingwa appeared for Phiri-Bhowa.

"I struck him with the axe, but I do not know how many times I did so since all horrors of his abuses over the years kept coming to me during that fateful scuffle," she said.

She told the court that she eventually stopped striking her husband only after she heard a gushing sound of blood from the deceased Bhowa.

"I eventually stopped after I heard a gushing sound of blood. That is when I realised that I had injured my husband. I then layed him down holding his head first and covered the injured part with a blanket and put a pillow under his head. He was still breathing so I thought that when he would eventually get better, I would ask for forgiveness from him and get on with our lives."

Asked on why she did not call for help after realising that she had hurt her husband, Phiri-Bhowa , said she was confused and thought that her husband would get better since he was still breathing when she left for work that early morning.

"I left in fear and confusion, not knowing what to tell the children on what had happened to their father. It still hurts me because I loved my husband even though he was abusive. I still can't come to terms with the fact that he is now dead because his presence was more important," she sobbed as she testified.

Phiri-Bhowa disputed the doctor's claims that she had struck the deceased in his sleep and said that she had struck him while he was facing the floor searching for an object to assault her.

"He was wide awake when I struck him and we were in the middle of a domestic scuffle. He was looking for something to assault me with, so I quickly grabbed the axe and struck him with it."

She went on to tell the court that she was in an abusive marriage with her late husband.

"I was in an abusive marriage. My late husband accused me of being a goblin's wife. She told the court that her husband was always abusive because of his jealousy that she was always ahead of him educationally and in terms of employment.

"Your Worship, I was the first one between us two to study for a degree with the Zimbabwe Open University and that did not go down well with my late husband," said Phiri, a holder of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Counselling.

She also told the court that the late Bhowa never accepted her as his wife as he always referred to her as a goblin's wife.

"He never accepted me as his wife. He did not accept his two sons as his own biological children. The abuses started when I had just been married and was only five months pregnant with my first born child," she sobbed.

Asked by Ms Mandingwa on why she did not leave the deceased if he indeed was an abuser, Phiri-Bhowa told the court that she had expectations that her marriage would get better with time. She was remanded in custody to yesterday (Thursday) for sentencing.