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Senior Bulawayo High Court Judge, Justice Nicholas Ndou on Tuesday handed Kelvin Takwana Mutyorauri the death sentence sitting on circuit in Gweru.
Mutyorauri, of Mutyorauri Village, Chief Njelele in Gokwe South District, lured the girl into a bush last year before hacking her to death and leaving part of her body covered by a drum.
Mutyorauri had pleaded not guilty to murdering Gamuchirai Mvumba but Justice Ndou sitting with assessors Messrs James Lex Dhlula and Wellington Takawira Matemba found him guilty of murder with actual intent.
The court found that there was no extenuating circumstances and sentenced him to death.
It was also the judge’s view that Mutyorauri had shown no remorse in the manner he killed the child and he only worsened things when he tried to hide his crime by leaving the girl’s remains in the bush.
Mutyorauri, who was aged 25 when he committed the crime, had told the court that the now deceased child, Gamuchirai Mvumba, died after she was accidentally hit by a ladder that he was using when roofing a hut.
He was represented pro deo by Zvishavane lawyer, Mr Tichaona Chivasa, of Chivasa and Associates.
Mutyorauri was already serving another jail term of 22 years for a rape case that he committed in Gokwe some years back.
The State’s case as presented by Mrs Rossa Takuva is that on 18 July last year, Gamuchirai was playing with three other children one of them then aged five while the other two were both aged seven.
Mrs Takuva said the four children were playing near Ms Francisca Chirozva’s homestead.
At around 9am, Ms Tendai Sibanda, an aunt to the now deceased, called the four children to come and have breakfast.
Only three children came while Gamuchirai remained behind playing alone, the court heard.
Mrs Takuva said Mutyorauri came to where Gamuchirai was playing and lured her to a secluded place near a stream.
She said Mutyorauri removed a pair of shorts, which he used as underwear and left them close to the stream.
The court heard that the deceased was wearing a pink dress with some stripes.
In her evidence-in-chief, Ms Chironza said when the three children came for breakfast she enquired about Gamuchirai’s whereabouts.
She said she asked them to go back and bring her after they had had their breakfast.
Ms Chironza said the children came back and told her that Gamuchirai was no longer there.
She said she then told Gamuchirai’s aunt Ms Sibanda and they were joined by a third person and immediately launched a search for the missing child.
Ms Chironza is sister-in-law to Ms Sibanda.
She said the three went to the place where the deceased was last seen playing and noticed a shoe print of a male adult around the place.
They also saw the same shoe print and foot print of a child leaving the place.
Ms Chironza said she together with her colleagues suspected that the smaller footprint belonged to the deceased.
They traced the footprints which led them into a path and after about 15 metres, the child’s footprint disappeared but the adult shoe print remained visible.
The witness told the court that she assumed then that Mutyorauri had lifted the child.
She said the shoe print changed course towards a stream in a nearby bush.
They followed the shoe print for a while but aborted the search after they lost track.
Ms Chironza said Ms Sibanda reported the matter to the police.
The witness said she proceeded home and alerted four of her neighbours about the missing child.
She said the four neighbours joined her and resumed the search.
Ms Chironza said it was then that she together with a neighbour, Mr Emmanuel Manyerekete found the black short.
They aborted their search after failing to locate the child.
Ms Chironza said about a week later, on 26 July, at about 5.30pm, she went into a nearby bush in search of her cattle.
While in the bush, she said she was greeted by a pungent smell of a decomposing creature.
She began to search for the source of the smell and came across her dog in the garden busy feeding on a human skull.
Ms Chironza said the size of the skull was of a child and she quickly suspected that it belonged to the missing child.
She alerted her parents and other villagers.
With the help of dogs, the villagers found the lower limbs of a child near the stream.
The remains were covered with a metal drum and the police were called to attend to the scene.
Ms Chironza identified Gamuchirai’s remains through the pink dress that she was wearing on the fateful day.
The witness also showed the police the black short, which they took away.
Police later brought back a pair of shoes belonging to Mutyorauri and Ms Chironza quickly confirmed that the pair of shoes’ print resembled the print she saw at the scene of crime.
The evidence of all the State witnesses was similar and corroborated Ms Chironza’s testimony.
Online Reporter