Zimbabwean woman jailed for 27 years after fleeing to UK following murder of husband
HARARE – A Zimbabwean woman, Bridget Makaza, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for murdering her husband, MaCloud Zvavovavaviri Mapanga, the owner of Kurai Coaches, in a cold and premeditated killing at their home in Harare in 2018.
Makaza was convicted last week of fatally shooting her husband in the early hours of May 14, 2018. Makaza fired three shots from a 38 Amadeo Rossi revolver with erased serial numbers at Mapanga while he was sleeping.
The first bullet struck his right shoulder, another went above the left shoulder, and the third grazed his neck before piercing the right shoulder. She tried to disguise the murder by falsely claiming that armed intruders had shot her husband and stolen US$12,000 from their Belvedere home.
In the chaos that followed, she drove to a swampy area where she discarded the gun and the latex gloves she had worn.
Afterwards, she went to Mabelreign Police Station to report the supposed robbery. The police investigations, however. quickly disproved her story.
No evidence of forced entry was found, and ballistic tests later showed that the bullets recovered from Mapanga’s body were fired from the same gun that Makaza had hidden.
The revolver and gloves were recovered based on her own directions. Evidence presented in court revealed that Makaza had traveled to South Africa on May 2, 2018, to purchase the weapon used in the killing.
While on remand, she was granted bail but fled to the United Kingdom, only to be apprehended again upon her return to Zimbabwe in December 2024.
A post-mortem report indicated that Mapanga died from traumatic shock, as well as severe damage to his lungs and liver caused by the shooting.
In her defense, Makaza claimed she had suffered long-term emotional and physical abuse by her husband, including repeated assaults, forced intimacy, infidelity, and psychological torment.
She said that the killing followed a violent argument in which Mapanga accused her of witchcraft and threatened her life. According to her, the gun discharged three times during a struggle between them.
She also alleged that her confession was coerced under torture and denied buying the firearm.
Justice Emilia Muchawa dismissed her defense during the ruling. The judge stated that the evidence clearly indicated premeditation.
“Our findings are that the accused person planned to execute the deceased. To set this in motion, she travelled to South Africa, soon after her return from the United Kingdom, to procure the murder weapon,” Justice Muchawa said.
“She conveniently flew into South Africa and used the road back to smuggle the murder weapon into Zimbabwe. She then waited for a convenient time.
“It fell on May 14, 2018 and around 3 am when the deceased, who had returned from work around 11 pm, was fast asleep. She aimed at the upper part of his body and delivered three fatal shots to the shoulders and neck. To cover up her crime, she staged an unlawful entry and robbery.
“She shouted, ‘thief, thief’. She left the deceased seriously injured, without rendering any assistance or calling the ambulance and slipped away in the ensuing confusion.
“She went alone presumably to lodge a report, but, as confessed, her priority was to dispose of the firearm and related items, including the gloves which she had worn when shooting the deceased.
“To sanitise her disposal trip, the accused passed through Mabelreign Police Station and reported a robbery. This story was sustained throughout until interrogations led to her confession and the indications she made leading to the recovery of the firearm.
“The conduct of the accused before, during and after the murder led us to unequivocally conclude that the accused unlawfully and with intent to kill, shot MaCloud Zvavovaviri (Mapanga).
