News / National
Jilted man kills lover with a hoe for ending relationship
26 Sep 2022 at 01:03hrs | Views
A Harare man who murdered his girlfriend in cold blood after she ended their relationship has been jailed 15 years by High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi.
Tinashe Jamu of Glen Norah attacked Mitchel Chipere with a hoe in 2015 in an act described as "macabre and movie-like murder" by the judge.
Jamu had denied the charge, admitting that he was angered by the deceased but did not mean to kill her.
The judge however, ruled that his defence lacked merit.
Ruled the court; "In this case, the accused alleged that he was provoked by the way the deceased rejected him.
"In his own words, he says the deceased advised him that ‘it was none of his business if she was in love with another man'.
"There was nothing provocative about that to the extent of triggering the murderous reaction which followed."
Justice Mutevedzi continued; "At the very least, the accused had known that the deceased was in love with another man for two weeks.
"To claim that he then acted at the spur of the moment is being untruthful and seeking to stretch the defence of provocation too far.
"As already said, he had at least two weeks within which to deal with that reality. He had enough time to cool off; he did not.
"Instead he seems to have used that time to prepare for the deceased's Armageddon."
Court heard Jamu started dating the now-late Chipere in 2011.
The two co-habited for a while until Chipere got pregnant.
She tragically had stillbirth which resulted in her parents taking her back to their Glen Norah house .
Court heard there were rumours that Chipere was now seeing another man.
Jamu said in June 2015, the deceased invited him to her parents' house in order to discuss their relationship.
A heated argument ensued between the two with the now-deceased eventually calling off the relationship.
This did not go down well with the then 24-year-old Jamu who, in a fit of rage, picked up a metal hoe he saw behind the bedroom door.
"I picked it up and hit the deceased with it. She collapsed but I did not intend to kill the deceased," Jamu told the judge.
Court heard the deceased's mother alerted the police after she suspected there had been a break-in as her daughter's belongings were thrown about everywhere around the house.
Police later found the deceased's body in her bedroom in a pool of blood resulting in the arrest of Jamu.
Tinashe Jamu of Glen Norah attacked Mitchel Chipere with a hoe in 2015 in an act described as "macabre and movie-like murder" by the judge.
Jamu had denied the charge, admitting that he was angered by the deceased but did not mean to kill her.
The judge however, ruled that his defence lacked merit.
Ruled the court; "In this case, the accused alleged that he was provoked by the way the deceased rejected him.
"In his own words, he says the deceased advised him that ‘it was none of his business if she was in love with another man'.
"There was nothing provocative about that to the extent of triggering the murderous reaction which followed."
Justice Mutevedzi continued; "At the very least, the accused had known that the deceased was in love with another man for two weeks.
"To claim that he then acted at the spur of the moment is being untruthful and seeking to stretch the defence of provocation too far.
"As already said, he had at least two weeks within which to deal with that reality. He had enough time to cool off; he did not.
"Instead he seems to have used that time to prepare for the deceased's Armageddon."
Court heard Jamu started dating the now-late Chipere in 2011.
The two co-habited for a while until Chipere got pregnant.
She tragically had stillbirth which resulted in her parents taking her back to their Glen Norah house .
Court heard there were rumours that Chipere was now seeing another man.
Jamu said in June 2015, the deceased invited him to her parents' house in order to discuss their relationship.
A heated argument ensued between the two with the now-deceased eventually calling off the relationship.
This did not go down well with the then 24-year-old Jamu who, in a fit of rage, picked up a metal hoe he saw behind the bedroom door.
"I picked it up and hit the deceased with it. She collapsed but I did not intend to kill the deceased," Jamu told the judge.
Court heard the deceased's mother alerted the police after she suspected there had been a break-in as her daughter's belongings were thrown about everywhere around the house.
Police later found the deceased's body in her bedroom in a pool of blood resulting in the arrest of Jamu.
Source - NewZimbabwe
