Online Reporter
Peter Matika, [email protected]
THE trial of Gweru businessman Peter Dube, who allegedly gunned down his second wife’s suspected lover and two others in a chilling act of jealousy, has been set for July 28, nearly three years after he fled the country.
The long-awaited trial follows Dube’s dramatic arrest in Ireland, where he had sought refuge under a false identity after skipping the country in the wake of the triple shooting.
Dube was initially placed on remand after exhibiting signs of mental instability, including drinking water from a toilet basin and talking to himself prior to his High Court appearance last year.
Following a psychiatric assessment, he has since been declared fit to stand trial.
According to court records, Dube was on the run for close to three years after allegedly killing two people and seriously injuring two others, including his wife, in a suspected love triangle.
In his warned and cautioned statement, Dube denied the charges on the advice of his then-lawyer, Mrs Tuso Maputsenyika of Mhaka Attorneys in Gweru.
Dube, a well-known car dealer, is accused of fatally shooting Shelton Chiduku, his wife’s alleged lover from Kwekwe and her best friend Gamuchirai Mudungwe.
He also allegedly shot his wife Nyasha and her sister Nyaradzo, both of whom survived the attack.
According to the State, Dube had married Nyasha as a second wife and was enraged upon learning that she had travelled to Masvingo with the three others without informing him.
Suspecting an affair between his wife and Chiduku, Dube allegedly took matters into his own hands.
“At around 8pm on the day in question, Dube armed himself with a Zastava pistol and proceeded to No 11 Bensam Flats, Main Street, Gweru where Nyasha resided,” court papers read.
An altercation broke out, prompting Dube to go downstairs where he found Chiduku and Mudungwe. He allegedly shot Chiduku, who died on the spot.
As Mudungwe attempted to flee up the stairs, Dube shot her once in the face.
The bullet struck her left cheek near the nose and she collapsed and died at the bottom of the stairs.
Dube then allegedly returned upstairs where he shot Nyasha in the right cheek.
The bullet exited through her neck, knocking out a molar tooth and lodging in her shoulder.
He then turned the gun on Nyaradzo, shooting her above the left ear.
The bullet exited and ruptured her right eye.
Both women survived after being rushed to Gweru Provincial Hospital where they underwent surgery and were later discharged.
Following the shootings, Dube fled to South Africa then Eswatini where he assumed a new identity.
He later travelled to Ireland where he was arrested in Dublin last year for violating immigration laws.
He claimed to be a Mozambican national named Armando Quenete Muchanga in a bid to avoid deportation.
Authorities in Ireland deported him to Mozambique, where officials verified that he was in fact Zimbabwean.
He was subsequently extradited to Zimbabwe.
