Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
Two men accused of murdering Harare cellphone dealer Sipho Million Ncube in a suspected robbery plot have been convicted by the High Court, bringing a breakthrough in a case built on forensic evidence, incriminating circumstances and their alleged knowledge of crucial locations linked to the killing.
Elvin Saungweme Dongo and Dellon David Balani were convicted last week by High Court judge Justice Malin Tommasi over Ncube’s March 2020 murder, with the pair now awaiting sentencing.
The case, which gripped attention when Ncube disappeared, revolved around allegations that he was lured into a deadly scheme to rob and kill him.
The prosecution accused Dongo and Balani of acting in collusion with Munyaradzi Mawadze, whose trial was separated from theirs.
What followed Ncube’s disappearance was a search that ended in tragedy, as relatives and business associates sought answers before his body was eventually recovered.
The investigation would later uncover a trail of evidence that placed the accused under mounting pressure: clothing stained with the dead man’s blood, a knife recovered from a bushy area in Waterfalls and forensic results linking both items to Ncube’s DNA profile.
Central to the prosecution’s case was the contention that the evidence, considered collectively, connected the two men to the killing and the circumstances surrounding it.
A post-mortem examination established that Ncube died from acute anaemia caused by severe neck trauma inflicted by an incised wound, underscoring the violence behind his death.
Police told the court that Dongo pointed out the location where Ncube’s body was recovered, while Balani allegedly led investigators to the place where the blood-stained knife was found.
The forensic findings proved particularly significant.
Blood recovered from clothing found at Dongo’s residence and from the knife discovered in Waterfalls was linked to Ncube through DNA analysis, providing the prosecution with objective scientific evidence to support its case.
In an earlier ruling dismissing applications by the two at the close of the State’s case, Justice Tommasi highlighted the weight of the evidence.
“There is objective forensic evidence linking the deceased to the blood found on the clothing recovered from the first accused’s residence, as well as that found on the knife recovered in Waterfalls,” the judge said.
The court also examined statements made by the accused in their bail applications, which placed them in the company of Mawadze at or near the crime scene around the time of the killing.
For Dongo, the judge considered his knowledge of where Ncube’s body was found alongside the discovery of clothing stained by the deceased’s blood at his residence.
Taken together, those circumstances implicated him in the murder.
Balani, meanwhile, faced questions over his knowledge of the knife’s location, the forensic link between the weapon and Ncube, and his own statement placing him and the other men at the material time.
The court also heard that the accused’s versions referred to a knife being used to inflict a fatal wound inside a vehicle in a remote area, adding another layer to the circumstances surrounding the killing.
However, Justice Tommasi made it clear in the earlier discharge ruling that the court was determining whether the State had presented a case requiring the accused to defend themselves, rather than deciding whether their guilt had already been established beyond reasonable doubt.
“The ultimate question at this stage is not whether the State has already proved the guilt of either accused person beyond reasonable doubt, but whether there is evidence which, if accepted and left unanswered, could sustain a conviction,” she said.
The judge consequently dismissed their two’s applications for discharge and ordered them to enter their defence.
Their conviction marks a decisive turn in the case, which has remained anchored in the evidence gathered after Ncube’s disappearance and the forensic trail that emerged during the investigation.
With Dongo and Balani convicted, attention now shifts to sentencing, the next stage in the proceedings.
