The Sunday News
AN 18-year-old Mwenezi man crushed a 97-year-old woman’s head to a pulp with stones with the intention of robbing her only to find church garments after searching her bag.
The heart wrenching incident occurred last week in Village Kofi 2, Chief Mazetese’s area and the man — Cleopas Ndlovu has since been arrested and appeared in court for the cold blood attack of the 97-year-old Siye Matombi of the same village with the intention of robbing her.
He was charged with murder as defined in section 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23. Circumstances as presented by the prosecutor Mr Wellington Mutsvadziwa are that sometime last week Cleopas met the now deceased in a field belonging to one villager Zakaria Moyo when she was coming from a church service around 6pm.
Due to old age, Matombi was no longer able to locate the correct route to her homestead and Cleopas offered to be a Good Samaritan. His offer for help was, however, overwhelmed by the love of money after realising that the old woman was carrying a small bag which he thought had money. The court heard that he led the woman to a Marula tree in the field and left her sleeping there. He went to his home and came back later during the night only to find the granny still sleeping under the Marula tree. The State told the court that he took some stones and crushed the granny’s head and made sure she was dead before he searched her small bag only to find she was carrying her church garments.
He left the scene and went to his home where he slept for the night. The old woman’s body was discovered the following day by villagers and a report was made to the police leading to the arrest of Cleopas.
He appeared before Mwenezi resident magistrate Mr Honest Musiiwa and was remanded in custody to 28 December. He was advised to apply to the High Court for bail.
Meanwhile, in another court case in the same district, Zorodzai Moyo (34) of village Musorowenguruve, Chief Mazetese stabbed Nyashadzashe Moyo with an Okapi knife after a misunderstanding arose when he was called by Nyashadzashe and refused to comply. He was rushed to Masase Clinic where he died on admission and a report was made to the police leading to the arrest of the accused who appeared before Mr Honest Musiiwa and was remanded in custody to 28 December.
