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Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent

Plaxedes Mashasha, the elderly woman from Chitungwiza hogged newspaper headlines for allegedly spending days with her husband’s decomposing body in the house without alerting the police, was yesterday granted $50 000 bail.

Commonly referred to as Gogo Mashasha now, the 66-year-old woman who had been in custody for the past three weeks for the alleged offence.

Yesterday, she appeared before Chitungwiza regional magistrate Mr Clever Tsikwa, charged with culpable homicide.

Although the State had strongly opposed the granting of bail, Gogo Mashasha eventually got it and was ordered to reside at her given address.

The case was remanded to December 30.

Last Friday, the court ruled that Gogo Mashasha was mentally stable to face trial.

This came after questions had been raised over her sanity.

Prosecuting, Ms Pamela Dzinduwa told the court that Mashasha allegedly left her now late husband Gideon who was critically ill, in the custody of their son, Grant Mashasha, whose mental stability has also been questioned.

She allegedly went to an unknown place knowing that her husband needed close attention.

The late Gideon was left in the blankets in their bedroom.

As a result, he died and the body decomposed while Gogo Mashasha pretended to be failing to access the house.

She alleged that her son had locked the door from inside and could not open it for days.

Ms Dzinduwa told the court that there was gross negligence, which resulted in the death of Gideon, as he lacked access to food and medical attention.