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Misihairabwi-Mushonga meets robbers who killed her husband

by Staff reporter
11 Jul 2013 at 19:26hrs | Views
Regional Integration and International Co-operation minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga yesterday had a face-to-face encounter with six suspected armed robbers and murderers who allegedly killed her husband, Christopher Mushonga, following a break-in at the family's Mt Pleasant home in Harare four years ago.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga attended the hearing as a witness in a trial where Makaika Milanzi, Anthony Khumbula, Stephen Zimowa, Tichaona Soda, Asani Chikwanda and Tendai Jongwe are facing armed robbery and murder charges.

During trial, the minister positively identified her cellphone which was among some of the stolen property. She told the court that she had left the cellphone behind with her late husband, as she left on government business for Brussels, Belgium. The minister said the suspects broke into the house on 18 June 2009 and attacked her husband who died on 25 August from injuries sustained in the attack.

"I was informed that my husband had been attacked while I was in Brussels and I had to get connecting flights to get back home in time. When I arrived I was informed my husband had been taken in by his younger brother and was staying with him in Highlands, where I later collected him and took him home," Misihairabwi-Mushonga said.

Asked to explain circumstances leading to her husband's death, the outspoken minister said: "When I took him home, he complained of severe headache and I later took him to Parirenyatwa Hospital where, after a scan had been conducted, it was discovered that he had a blood clot in his brain. They (doctors) then told me there was little they could do because he had developed a kidney failure. As a result, they asked me to take him home and eventually he died on 25 August 2009."

Misihairabwi-Mushonga further told the court that although her husband was hypertensive, as a surgeon, he had survived with the condition and had not encountered any health complications.

Milanzi, Zimowa, Chikwanda and Soda are serving prisoners while Jongwe and Kumbula were acquitted on the robbery charges. The trial was postponed sine die.

Source - online