Teacher kills student with cricket bat, dumps body into the swimming pool

A Chinhoyi High School teacher, Joseph Mpala was dragged to the High Court on Monday charged with murder after he allegedly fatally assaulted a Form Three student with a cricket bat.

The pupil identified as Moreblessing Musiiwa was accused by the teacher of being improperly dressed for a swimming session.

The incident allegedly occurred on October 22, 2009 as the students were having swimming sessions.

Mpala's alleged accomplice, Lameck Katungunde, is said to be still at large, NewsDay reported.

The paper said after allegedly killing Musiiwa, Mpala allegedly locked up his body in a storeroom at the swimming pool for two days before dumping the body into the swimming pool in a bid to stage-manage a drowning incident.

However, post-mortem results indicated that Musiiwa had died as a result of head injuries.

Mpala, however, denied the murder charge when he appeared before High Court judge Justice Owen Tagu.

Prosecutor Henry Muringani presented that on the day in question, Mpala allegedly assaulted Musiiwa with a cricket bat and later threw his body into a swimming pool. According to the State, on that day, Katungunde, who is still at large, announced to Stuart Hostel students that they were going for a swimming session at the swimming pool.

While at the pool, Mpala ordered all students to get out of the pool and gather at the corner where he screened out those without swimming trunks.

Mpala then instructed Raymond Muza to go to his house and collect a computer cable which he wanted to use in applying corporal punishment on students who did not have proper swimming attire including Musiiwa.

Mpala then selected 12 students without proper swimming attire and ordered them to go to the shed near the swimming pool storeroom where he instructed Katungunde to open the storeroom for him.

After opening the store room, Katungunde went to the back of the storeroom but never witnessed the corporal punishment being applied to the students.

However, before the commencement of the punishment, Musiiwa is said to have bolted out towards the back of the storeroom in the same direction that had been taken by Katungunde. The court heard, Mpala later went to the back of the storeroom where he allegedly attacked Musiiwa with a cricket bat and locked his body in the pump house.

Two days later, it is alleged Musiiwa threw the body into the swimming pool where it was recovered, leading to his arrest.