Ex-jailbird up for murder

By Tendai Rupapa

A Harare man, who together with a colleague stripped, gagged and tied the hands and legs of another with a rope before mutilating with a hacksaw last year, was on Monday back in court for allegedly killing two more people.

He accused the other two of dating his girlfriend while he was in remand prison. On the first murder charge, and Alfred Chitate his alleged accomplice, Never Nyarambi, accused the now deceased of informing the police of their shenanigans.

They approached the unnamed man armed with a hacksaw and stones, and they assaulted him before cutting the deceased with the hacksaw.

Upon seeing that he had died, the pair fled the scene, leaving the deceased lying in a pool of blood. Chitate appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Rumbidzayi Mugwagwa on Monday facing two fresh counts of murder.

He committed the offence in connivance with Alouis Hungwe, who is still at large. Chitate and Hungwe accused Tawanda Chirume and his friend only identified as Col of dating their girlfriends when they were in remand prison.

Chitate was remanded in custody to March 3 and was advised to apply for bail at the High Court given the gravity of the offence. The court heard that following their release from remand prison on the first charge of murder, Chitate and Hungwe got information that their girlfriends had been snatched by Tawanda and Col while they were in jail.

It is the State’s case that on February 15, the duo teamed up and hatched a plan to kill their rival suitors. They allegedly armed themselves with metal bars and knives and went to look for their rivals.

They were later alerted that Col and Tawanda were along the railway line adjacent to Lytton Road near MTC Tobacco, the court heard. Col and Tawanda were seated along the railway line when they were ambushed by Chitate and Hungwe, who allegedly bashed them all over their bodies with the iron bars.

They then used knives to stab them. Col died on the spot, while Tawanda died on admission at a local hospital. After committing the offence, Chitate and Hungwe fled from the scene. Chitate was later arrested by the police following a tip-off. The Herald