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allegedly killed his wife Shorai Gwekwe and his own daughter Florence Maruza in 2007.
High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu could not hear the matter yesterday after it emerged that Maruza had not been properly served for the trial. Maruza is out of custody.

The matter is yet to be reset down for trial.
According to the State papers filed at the High Court, Maruza committed the offence after he had gone for a beer drink at Kajiwa homestead.

On the day in question, Ms Gwekwe was drinking traditional beer with some men while Maruza was seated a distance away with his friend Nicholas Magumura.

It is the State’s case that Maruza felt jealous after seeing his ex-wife with other men and he immediately left the homestead for Kafura Business Centre with his friend.

While at the shops, Maruza secretly went to Ms Gwekwe’s house and locked her up in the hut where she was sleeping with the little girl and set the hut on fire. Ms Gwekwe’s relative only identified in the papers as Isaac saw Maruza fleeing from the scene and the two were burnt to death.

A police report was made leading to Maruza’s arrest. The bodies were taken to Mutoko Hospital for postmortem where the death cause was confirmed to be severe burns.

In his defence outline filed at the High court, Maruza denies ever killing the two.
He indicates in the defence outline that he was seduced into marrying Gwekwe who was almost twice his age and that he divorced her in order to find younger girls of his age.

Maruza argues that he had no reason to feel jealous about an older woman he had ditched.
He argues that he only learnt about the death of the two from his mother and that he never visited Ms Gwekwe’s homestead on the fateful day.