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Temba Dube Senior Reporter
A JILTED man killed his wife in a frenzied knife attack and then hanged himself after giving his sister money and telling her: “This is for my funeral.”
Commuter omnibus driver, Gellot Ncube, of Gwabalanda in Bulawayo, plunged the blade NINE times into 28-year-old Nomqhele Nkiwane’s face, neck and chest after she called time on their three-year marriage over his infidelity.
The Bulawayo City Council employee, a holder of an accounting degree, died within 30 minutes of being wheeled into Mpilo Hospital on Wednesday night.
The stabbing near Amakhosi football ground at around 7PM sparked a police-led manhunt for Ncube — but his body was only found at around 6AM yesterday by children walking to Fusi Primary School, according to his uncle, Gorden Moyo, 48.
The couple left behind a two-year-old daughter.
Police sources say hours before the gruesome murder, Ncube told a friend that he had a triple homicide planned. He intended to kill his daughter first, and then his wife before taking his own life.
But after failing to locate his daughter, he went for his estranged wife who walked out of the matrimonial home last month angry over his infidelity.
One of Nkiwane’s friends told Chronicle yesterday: “Sometime on Wednesday, he sent Nomqhele a message saying he needed her to assist him to fill in some forms. She told him to bring them.
“They met in her best friend’s car near Amakhosi football ground turn-off, less than 500m from her parents’ house.”
Ncube, according to the witness, sat in the back seat right behind Nkiwane, who was in the front passenger seat while her friend sat behind the wheel.
“He grabbed the seat belt and started strangling her with it. Her friend ran out of the car screaming,” a witness said.
“By the time other people came to assist, Ncube had stabbed her all over her face, neck and chest. He sprang from the car, still gripping the bloody knife, and jumped into a Mercedes Benz Sprinter before speeding off.”
Ncube’s next stop was his sister Sibongile’s house in the same suburb. She has told investigators that he arrived abruptly and handed her some money, saying some of it should be given to his parents and the rest should be used for his burial.
Nomqhele’s brother, Nkosilathi, 39, told Chronicle that Ncube’s infidelity had driven his sister out of their matrimonial home. She had told of her fears that he was exposing her to HIV.
Last month, after claiming he was driving to Harare, Nomqhele was shocked to see Ncube having a good time with a girlfriend in town.
She went home, packed her bags and returned to her parents’ house – just 500 metres from where she was brutally stabbed.
Friends told how Ncube had bombarded her with messages pleading with her to come back. But the pleas soon turned to threats, they add.
“In one of the messages, he told her she would die and leave her daughter motherless. In another, he told her that he was watching her every move and was always behind her when she left work, although she never saw him,” said a pal.
A commuter transport tout who worked with Ncube added: “Imagine, this girl had a degree in accounting and she developed him from being a mere tout by paying for his driving lessons. He went on to cheat on her.
“He used to do the same thing with his previous live-in girlfriend, NaBusi, with whom he has a three-year-old daughter. One day he poured petrol on NaBusi and attempted to set her alight after she caught him cheating.”
Ncube’s ex-girlfriend was among a throng of locals that turned up to see his body hanging from a tree. She fainted at the sight.
Police officers lowered Ncube’s body which was loaded in a metallic coffin and carried away in the back of a police truck.
Officers also searched Ncube’s pockets and recovered a bloodied knife. In the branches, investigators recovered a small plastic bottle containing a green substance which he is believed to have taken before hanging himself.
Police say they are not looking for anyone else over the double homicide.
Online Reporter