12 years for beheading wife

By Leonard Ncube

A man from Inyathi in Matabeleland North who, in a fit of rage, beheaded his cheating wife with an axe after he found her having sex with his nephew has been charged with culpable homicide.

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail.

High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo accepted a lesser charge of culpable homicide when David Chaloma (31) of Goodhope Village 2, Siganda appeared before her during the Hwange High Court circuit on Wednesday.

In his defence, Chaloma said he picked an axe after his wife Isabel Mpala (29), who he had earlier caught having sex with his nephew Mr Prince Ncube, became harsh and stabbed him.

Chaloma’s pro deo lawyer Ms Joyline Change of Mvhiringi and Associates submitted a defence of provocation saying her client acted in self-defence, which the court accepted.

“We had agreed that I will follow her to the clinic so as to walk her back home. I followed her footprints but then they diverted into the bush. I followed into the bush thinking she was going to relieve herself but saw her having sex with my nephew Prince,” Chaloma told the court.

He said he did not say a word but went back home and waited for his wife to return. In the evening, Chaloma said, he confronted his wife about the issue and she became violent leading to a fight.

He said she stabbed him with a knife and that’s when he picked an axe and struck her.

Chaloma pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide. The judge sentenced him to 12 years in jail.

Prosecuting, Ms Memory Munsaka said Chaloma stabbed his wife with an okapi knife before axing her severally thereby decapitating her.

“On June 13, 2018 the accused and Thembani Ndlovu (12) went to the dip tank for cattle branding. The deceased who had remained home later went to Siganda Clinic with the intention to have a family planning contraceptive removed,” said the prosecutor.

The court was told that when Chaloma and Thembani returned home in the afternoon, they found his wife not yet back and he decided to follow her.

In the evening Chaloma accused his wife of infidelity and a fight ensued.

“He stabbed her with an okapi knife on the back, and legs before taking an axe and striking her several times on the head, forehead and neck thereby decapitating her,” said the prosecutor.

Seeing that his wife was dead, Chaloma attempted suicide by cutting his throat and consuming an unknown amount of organophosphate poison.

He left the body in one of the huts and went to the bedroom where he got into bed with his clothes drenched in blood.

Thembani alerted neighbours after seeing him full of blood and smelling of dip chemical in his bedroom.

The neighbours discovered the woman’s lifeless body and reported to the police who arrested Chaloma. The Chronicle.