Diaspora widow accused of killing hubby

Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
A WIDOW whose husband drowned in a dam while she was working in South Africa stands accused of killing the man.
Rose Chipenzi said her husband, Taurai Taringa, drowned in May while she was still in South Africa earning a living for the family.
Appearing before Chief Mutasa, Chipenzi said she learnt of the tragedy through one of her children, who called her with the devastating news.
“My child phoned and told me that his father had drowned and that a mermaid had taken him,” she said.
Chipenzi said the family turned to traditional healers in an effort to recover Taringa, believing there was still hope he could be found alive.
“His brother also informed me that they had sought the assistance of traditional healers to help retrieve him from the water. I sent money to support the process because I believed that if everything was done properly, my husband would be found alive,” she said.

However, Taringa’s body was only recovered four days later after it surfaced in the dam.
Chipenzi said she immediately travelled back home to attend the funeral, only to encounter what she described as hostility and humiliation from her husband’s relatives.
Upon arrival, she found family members gathered at a funeral parlour, but said she was shocked when she was instructed to travel in the hearse carrying her husband’s body.
“I was told to travel in the hearse with my husband’s body. The only people accompanying me were my relatives. None of his family members travelled with us,” she said.
It was during this period, she claimed, that she discovered some of her in-laws suspected her of being involved in her husband’s death.
“My sons later told me that some of their relatives were saying I had killed their father. They claimed I held a grudge against him because he had been misusing the money I was sending from South Africa to support the family,” she said.
Chipenzi said she had worked tirelessly to improve her family’s welfare while abroad, but accused her late husband of squandering resources she had sent home.
“I bought two vehicles for the family, but my husband sold them and used the money. I also sent funds to build a house, but that money was squandered as well,” she said.
The widow said one of her sons identified her sister-in-law as among those spreading the allegations, prompting her to seek answers directly from her.
Tensions allegedly escalated further after the burial when she began experiencing what she described as unexplained supernatural occurrences.
“After the burial, I started seeing a shadow passing by and hearing my husband’s voice saying that nobody would enjoy peace at the homestead. When I informed his elder brother about it, he shouted at me and said the experiences would continue until I confessed,” she told the court.
Chipenzi said the allegations have torn the family apart and strained her relationship with her children.
Her eldest son, Tashinga, no longer speaks to her because he allegedly believes she played a role in his father’s death.
Amid the grief and growing family divisions, Chipenzi insisted she had nothing to do with her husband’s death, and reminded the court that she was in South Africa when the tragedy occurred.
She asked the court to compel her in-laws to consult traditional healers in a bid to establish what really happened.
Chipenzi also levelled another allegation against her late husband’s elder brother, claiming he had previously expressed romantic interest in her and sent her inappropriate messages before Taringa’s death.
Responding to the claims, the deceased’s brother, Silas Taringa, denied that the family had directly accused Chipenzi of murder.
“We are still trying to establish what caused our brother’s death,” he said.
Silas said suspicions arose from Chipenzi’s conduct during funeral preparations.
“Before the burial, Chipenzi placed millet into her husband’s mouth. We understand that this is a ritual meant to summon the spirit of the deceased so that it can avenge its death,” he said.
Silas said such rituals are traditionally performed by the deceased’s relatives and not by a spouse.
He said Chipenzi’s subsequent illness and claims of seeing shadows fuelled concerns within the family.
“What raised our suspicions is that after performing the ritual, she became sick and started seeing the deceased’s shadow and hearing his voice. However, we are not saying she killed him. We are simply saying the circumstances appear unusual and we want to understand what happened,” he said.
Chief Mutasa adjourned the matter to a later date for further deliberation.