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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
A GWERU man was yesterday sentenced to death for stabbing his wife 27 times all over her body after she refused to move in with him because he had failed to pay lobola.

Dignity Masvimbo (26) of Winery Compound, Greenvale, Gweru was convicted of murder with actual intent by Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo on circuit in Gweru. Masvimbo stabbed his wife of five years, Oripa Gapare (22), in April last year.

In passing sentence, Justice Moyo said Masvimbo’s conduct was unpardonable as he had butchered his wife to death in a manner even animals would frown upon. She said Masvimbo pre-planned the murder before embarking on a 20-kilometre journey to Gapare’s place at night armed with an okapi knife with the sole motive of killing her.

“The accused failed to pay lobola as one of the conditions set by the deceased’s mother for them to get back together. At the house, the accused stabbed the deceased 27 times indiscriminately inflicting fatal wounds. The depth of the wounds according to the post-mortem report indicated that severe force was used,” said Justice Moyo.

Justice Moyo said Masvimbo deserved capital punishment, saying the murder was committed in aggravating circumstances.

“Unless capital punishment is removed entirely from the statutes, the courts will continue to pass such severe sentence so as to send a message that courts prescribe to deterrent sentences like capital punishment,” she said.

“It is for this reason that unless jurisprudence in the development of law by the superior court changes, cases like this one meet capital punishment as a requirement. The accused is accordingly sentenced to death by hanging.”

It was the State case that sometime in October 2016, Masvimbo and Gapare separated following a domestic dispute. This prompted Gapare to move out of the house to stay with her parents at house number 2167 Mkoba 14, Gweru. Masvimbo followed her to persuade her to come back to him, but was told by Gapare’s mother that he needed to pay lobola first, which he failed to do.

Six months later, Masvimbo proceeded to Gapare’s residence armed with an Okapi knife and went inside the house using an unlocked main door and sat on a sofa in the dining room.

Masvimbo then called Gapare to the dining room and without notice dragged her outside the house where he killed her in the presence of her 91-year-old grandmother Mrs Hamundide Mashayamombe.