Maid brutally murdered her employer

A 31-year-old maid has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after the High Court in Hwange found her guilty of helping her husband murder their employer in a calculated plot to loot property and raise money to buy a taxi.

Justice Evangelista Kabasa, sitting with two assessors, convicted Sheila Ndlovu of murder with aggravating circumstances, ruling that she willingly took part in the brutal killing just two weeks after being employed with her husband, Baron Chigudu, at the victim's farm.

"This was a murder committed in aggravating circumstances," Justice Kabasa said. "You and your husband set out to kill and accomplished that mission. It was premeditated and carefully executed, taking the deceased completely by surprise."

The court heard that on 28 December 2022, Chigudu struck the farm owner with an axe. Ndlovu handed him the weapon and urged him to "finish him off" to prevent the victim from raising alarm.

The couple tied the body to the employer's vehicle and dragged it to a disused mine shaft, where they dumped it together with his clothes, an axe, cow hides and other items. Police later recovered the decomposing remains 20 metres underground, alongside looted household property worth US$7,811.

Ndlovu claimed she acted under her husband's influence, but the court rejected her defence.

"She was not threatened or coerced. Greed got the better of her and she found the plan attractive," Justice Kabasa ruled. "Using an axe to bludgeon a human being on the head shows an intention to kill."

The judge described Ndlovu as remorseless, saying she betrayed the qualities expected of a caregiver. "A woman is supposed to have a nurturing character, gentle and kind-hearted. You did not show any of these traits. Your being a woman does not justify a departure from the penalty such an offence deserves," she said.

Justice Kabasa further condemned the couple's attempt to cover up the killing, saying it showed "utter disrespect for a dead body, one you had already disrespected by callously ending his life."

Chigudu was committed to Mlondolozi Special Institution following a special verdict, while the couple's two young children have been left without parents.

Despite Ndlovu's status as a first offender and her two-and-a-half years in pretrial custody, the court found no mitigating circumstances.

"You will live with the stigma of being labelled a murderer," Justice Kabasa told her before handing down the 25-year jail term.