By A Correspondent- A 52 year old polygamous Shamva man has been jailed 20 years for killing one of his wives, after accusing her of infidǝlity.

Joseph Chogugudza, who is a member of an apostolic church sect, has 11 wives and 45 children, 28 who are under the age of 18.

He appeared before High Court judge, Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa, who slammed him for painting the deceased as a pr0miscu0us woman, without evidence, to substantiate his allegations.

The court heard that sometime in April 2021, at Mandimu Village under Chief Musana in Shamva, the woman left home to go and buy sugar, without telling anyone.

She returned late and had a misunderstanding with Chogugudza.

He claimed an altercation ensued and she grabbǝd him by his mɑnh00d.

He said he struck her with a computer cable several times.

Chogugudza ordered her to confess to the other wives and then to the congregants at the church shrine.

She, however, collapsed and died the following morning.

Armed with results of the post-mortem, the State proved that Chogugudza’s wife died from a head trauma, respiratory and cerebral contusion.

In his defence, Chogugudza claimed he did not constructively contribute to her death, saying she could have sustained injuries from her fall.

He said he’d even compensated her family with 10 beasts.

In her ruling, Justice Munangati-Manongwa said Chogugudza was remorseless throughout the trial, and instead justified his actions.

“In essence, the deceased had done nothing wrong apart from going to the shops to buy sugar, a normal chore which any housewife could do.

“It is apparent from his evidence that he meant to make the deceased an example to his other wives as per his own words.

“The wanton assault by the accused on the deceased, which was done indiscriminately using force and causing fatal injuries, cannot go unpunished. Further, society, and indeed the accused’s family, needs to be protected from a tyrant like the accused.

“He, therefore, needs to be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time as advocated by the State.

“This is unavoidable where the breadwinner lands at the deep end of crime.

“Given the aforementioned, the accused is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.”

— HMetro