3 life sentences for serial rapist, murderer
By Abel Zhakata
A 31-YEAR-OLD man who gruesomely murdered breastfeeding women and their babies after heartlessly raping them was slapped with three life sentences by High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe who found him guilty of three counts of murder.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Hungwe said the community cannot live with such callous criminals who have no respect for women.
He also slapped Patrick Madhume with an additional five-year jail term for attempting to murder one of the babies who sustained a fractured skull in the attack.
Madhume was arrested in September 2012 after he confessed to raping and killing four people before a prophet who subsequently tipped the police.
His arrest helped the police to solve a series of mystery and unresolved murder cases that had dogged the Mayo community in Headlands.
All of the victims’ bodies were found in a decomposing state, rendering post-mortem futile, while some of the body parts were mauled by dogs and wild animals.
Allegations were that in March 2012, he raped and killed Tambudzai Moya in Mayo.
She was found dead while her one-year-old child sustained serious head injuries. Efforts to carry out post-mortem were fruitless as her body had already decomposed.
When he confessed to the murders, Madhume did not know that Moya’s child survived the attack.
Sometime in September 2012, another woman, Violet Chipanyama, and her child were reported missing.
Chipanyama was coming from a family-cleansing ceremony. They disappeared on September 9 and were only found on September 26.
Their bodies had already decomposed and dogs were feasting on their corpses. Again, a post-mortem to ascertain their death was fruitless and the case remained a mystery as well.
The murders came to light when Madhume went to Jairosi Tsikai’s homestead in Macheke looking for a place to put up for the night.
He arrived at Tsikai’s young wife’s house who advised him to go and seek audience with Tsikai who was not feeling well and being attended to by his first wife at another homestead. He proceeded and met Tsikai.
However, some church members, including a prophet, were also at Tsikai’s house as they wished him a speedy recovery from the tooth ache.
The prophet then told the accused that he was being followed by a dark spirit and thus he should confess his sins.
Madhume only confessed to raping women, but the prophet insisted that it was not enough.
At this point, Tsikai intervened and promised to employ the accused if he revealed all his sins. He subsequently confessed killing his victims and their children.
Tsikai then telephoned members of the Neighbourhood Watch Committee who arrested the suspect and handed him over to the police. Manica Post
