A 25-year-old Binga man who fatally assaulted his 72-year-old aunt with switches after accusing her of “bewitching him in a dream” was last Wednesday jailed for seven years.
Tutambulye Munkuli of Siachipanda 4 Village, Lusulu in Binga attacked his aunt, Belita Mugande with mopane tree switches accusing her of bewitching him in his dreams before threatening to burn down her homestead. He appeared before Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Maxwell Takuva facing a murder charge during the second term of the Hwange High Court circuit last week. Munkuli, however, offered a limited plea of culpable homicide arguing that he had unintentionally killed his aunt, Mugande.
Munkuli told the court that although he did not have evidence to support his claims that his aunt was bewitching him, he argued that the dreams he was having and misfortune had pushed him to commit the crime.
“I did not intend to kill my aunt, I got angry after I became convinced that she was bewitching me especially after I saw her in my dreams. After going through a series of misfortunes and the subsequent dreams I began to suspect her of being the cause,” he said.
In passing sentence, Justice Takuva said Munkuli deserved a harsh sentence for killing his aunt.
“You deserve a harsh sentence because you took the life of the only woman that showed you love, that fed you and clothed you after your parents separated. You killed her only because you dreamt of her bewitching you and there was no evidence to support those claims. You were cruel in your conduct as you just assaulted the now deceased without any misunderstanding and left her to die and did not offer first aid. I don’t know what the young ones are doing nowadays busy thinking of witchcraft and killing instead of engaging in productive projects that will give them money,” said Justice Takuva.
According to a statement of agreed facts between the State led by Ms Memory Munsaka and the defence counsel, Ms Joylyn Change of Muvhiringi and Associates on 5 November 2019 at around 8.30am, Munkuli met his aunt along a footpath. He went on to accuse her of bewitching him before striking her several times all over the body with mopane switches.
Efforts to restrain Munkuli by a fellow villager, Mr Reason Munsaka who had rushed to the scene were futile as he continued to assault the woman. Munkuli eventually stopped assaulting his aunt before leaving her lying on the ground.
The aunt’s children who had also rushed to the scene after hearing her screams, found her lying on the ground and took her home where she later died. According to the post-mortem report, Ms Mugande suffered brain contusion and head trauma as a result of the assault.