Diaspora widow accused of husband's death

A Mutasa widow whose husband drowned in a dam while she was working in South Africa has been accused by her in-laws of having a hand in his death.

Rose Chipenzi told Chief Mutasa's community court that her husband, Taurai Taringa, drowned in May while she was in South Africa earning money to support the family.

She said she learnt of the tragedy from one of their children, who called to tell her that his father had drowned and that a mermaid had taken him.

"My child phoned and told me that his father had drowned and that a mermaid had taken him," she said.

Chipenzi said the family consulted traditional healers in an attempt to recover Taringa, with her sending money because she believed he could still be found alive.

However, his body was recovered four days later after it surfaced in the dam.

She immediately returned home for the funeral but said she was shocked by the hostility she encountered from her late husband's relatives.

Chipenzi claimed that she was instructed to travel in the hearse carrying her husband's body, accompanied only by her own relatives.

She later learnt from her sons that some of Taringa's relatives suspected she had caused his death, allegedly because she was angry that he had been misusing money she sent from South Africa.

Chipenzi said she had worked hard to improve the family's welfare, but accused her late husband of squandering some of the money she sent home.

"I bought two vehicles for the family, but my husband sold them and used the money. I also sent funds to build a house, but that money was squandered as well," she said.

She said one of her sons identified her sister-in-law as being among those making the allegations, prompting her to seek an explanation.

The widow also told the court that she experienced what she described as supernatural occurrences after the burial, including seeing a shadow and hearing what she believed was her late husband's voice.

"When I informed his elder brother about it, he shouted at me and said the experiences would continue until I confessed," she said.

Chipenzi said the allegations had deepened divisions within the family, including between her and her children. Her eldest son, Tashinga, allegedly no longer speaks to her because he believes she was involved in his father's death.

She denied the allegations and pointed out that she was in South Africa when her husband drowned.

Chipenzi asked the court to compel her in-laws to consult traditional healers to establish what happened to Taringa.

She also accused her late husband's elder brother of having previously expressed romantic interest in her and sending her inappropriate messages.

However, the deceased's brother, Silas Taringa, denied that the family had directly accused Chipenzi of murder.

"We are still trying to establish what caused our brother's death," he said.

Silas said suspicions were heightened by an incident during the funeral in which Chipenzi allegedly placed millet in her husband's mouth.

He claimed the act was a traditional ritual intended to summon the spirit of the deceased to avenge his death, and said such rituals were normally performed by the deceased's relatives rather than a spouse.

He also said Chipenzi's subsequent illness and claims of seeing her husband's shadow and hearing his voice had raised concerns among relatives.

"What raised our suspicions is that after performing the ritual, she became sick and started seeing the deceased's shadow and hearing his voice. However, we are not saying she killed him. We are simply saying the circumstances appear unusual and we want to understand what happened," Silas said.

Chief Mutasa adjourned the matter to a later date for further deliberation.