A MAN from Inyathi in Matabeleland North who fatally struck his ex-wife several times with an axe on Christmas Eve in 2018 after she had ended their marriage has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder.

Vincent Ndlovu (39) of Plot Number 9, Diglis Park, Famona in Inyathi, was customarily married to Hlengiwe Moyo and the couple was on separation at the time she was killed. Moyo, then 26, had moved out of her matrimonial home to live with her parents in a nearby village.

Ndlovu armed himself with an axe and followed her to her parents’ homestead where he struck her several times in the presence of minor children aged 14, six and two years.

Ndlovu was convicted of murder with actual intent when he appeared before Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Maxwell Takuva who is on circuit in Hwange.

The judge said Ndlovu killed a defenceless woman because he could not accept that she had left him.

He sentenced him to an effective 30 years in jail.

Prosecuting, Mr Bheki Tshabalala said Ndlovu sneaked into a kitchen hut where his ex-wife was sleeping at night and was positively identified by the deceased’s 14-year-old younger sister.

Three other minors were in the same hut.
The deceased’s parents were not at home at the time-Chronicle