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Liberty Dube in Mutare
A Mutare man, Phillip Chinhara (31), who fatally stabbed his elderly employer Ms Maria Spanos, with a knife in the neck and face before having sex with the corpse in April last year has been sentenced to life in prison.
Chinhara was facing two counts of murder as defined in Section 47 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23 and violating a corpse as defined in Section 111 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) when he appeared before High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe sitting in Mutare last week.

Law officer Ms Jane-Rose Matsikidze prosecuted.  In passing sentence, Justice Hungwe said the death sentence was an option for Chinhara had it not been for the procedural aspects under the new Constitution which requires the State to make known its intentions to seek for a death sentence on the commencement of trial.

The court heard that on April 14 last year, Chinhara was employed as a part-time gardener at 5 Miles Avenue, Yeovil, Mutare, where Ms Spanos (77) resided, and hatched a plan to steal a safe which was in her bedroom.

Armed with a knife, he climbed through the roof after removing the tiles, lowered himself through the trap door and accessed Ms Spanos’ bedroom.

While inside the bedroom, Chinhara stabbed Ms Spanos with a knife in the face and neck with so much force that he severed the trachea, instantly killing her.

He later returned to the house, sexually violated the deceased’s corpse and then ransacked the house, stealing various items of property which he packed into two suitcases which he then took to his cottage after locking Ms Spanos’ doors.

A post-mortem examination showed that her death was due to haemorrhagic shock secondary to severe soft tissue injury.