Man in brutal spade murder of wife

A 30-year-old Mhondoro-Ngezi man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of the brutal murder of his wife, whom he repeatedly struck with a spade in a violent attack that left the rural community of Bumbe in shock.

Elias Tasiyana was sentenced by the High Court sitting in Chinhoyi after being found guilty of killing his wife during the early hours of July 6 last year in a one-room home the couple shared.

The trial, presided over by High Court Judge Catherine Bachi-Mzawazi, heard that Tasiyana used a spade to inflict repeated and severe blows to the woman's body and skull, resulting in fatal injuries.

Although the couple were not formally married, the court accepted that they had lived together for years and shared a young child.

In delivering judgment, Justice Bachi-Mzawazi rejected the accused's version of events, describing his defence as fabricated and inconsistent with the evidence before the court.

Tasiyana had claimed that the fatal incident occurred after he returned home from work and allegedly found an intruder inside his room, leading to a struggle in which the deceased was accidentally struck.

However, the court found that version of events highly improbable and unsupported by evidence.

"The weapon used, the multiplicity of the blows, the force used, the depth and extent of the injuries and the part of the body the blows were aimed at cumulatively points… to actual intention," the judge ruled.

Critical to the State's case was the testimony of the accused's mother, Juliana Tasiyana, who lived nearby and said she heard screams during the early hours of the morning.

She told the court she rushed to the scene and found the door locked from the inside. When it was eventually opened, she discovered the deceased lying in a pool of blood while her son stood inside the room.

The court found no evidence of an intruder, noting that it would have been highly unlikely for any third party to escape a locked room unnoticed.

The judge further observed that Tasiyana's claim of an alleged boyfriend only emerged during trial and had never been mentioned during initial police reports or to villagers at the time of arrest.

"He did not disclose the same to his mother… The boyfriend story only emerged on the day of trial," Justice Bachi-Mzawazi said.

Medical evidence presented in court confirmed that the deceased suffered multiple severe injuries consistent with repeated blows inflicted with significant force, ruling out the possibility of a single accidental strike.

The court also heard that the couple had a history of domestic violence, with prior incidents reportedly recorded by police and instances in which the deceased had been hospitalised following assaults.

Justice Bachi-Mzawazi condemned the killing as a "cold-blooded" act of domestic violence, noting that it occurred in the presence of the couple's three-year-old child, who has now been left without both parents in a stable home environment.

"The offence was committed in the presence of a three-year-old child who has not only been orphaned but inevitably traumatised," she said during sentencing.

After the killing, Tasiyana reportedly attempted suicide by consuming poison and later escaped from lawful custody before being re-arrested. The court said this conduct further reinforced findings of guilt.

In handing down sentence, the judge emphasised the sanctity of human life and condemned the growing prevalence of gender-based violence.

"Life is sacrosanct," she said. "No one is entitled to expend life other than the giver of life, the Creator himself."

The court concluded that the murder was committed with direct intent, known in law as dolus directus, and imposed a 25-year custodial sentence.