adminVimbai Komani Nkayi Correspondent
A MAN picked up a dispute with his sister over the phone — and then travelled 1,005km and killed her daughter, 7, a court heard.
Sipho Dube, 32, struck Princess Pride Moyo several times with an axe in an unprovoked attack, prosecutors said at the Nkayi Magistrates’ Court.
Nkayi magistrate Ndumo Masuku heard how Dube – who is based in Johannesburg, South Africa – rowed with his sister over the phone, before ending the call with the chilling message: “I will kill someone you love.”
With his sister in Tsholotsho where she works, Dube travelled to their family home in Ndabezinhle Village 19, Sibuyu, where his niece and nephew, Ayanda Moyo, 5, were staying.
On December 30 last year, Dube was playing football with the two children in the yard when he invited his niece to accompany him to his bedroom hut, it is alleged.
Once inside, Dube brutally struck her several times with a small axe on the spine, stomach and the back of the neck, said Dzingai Njani prosecuting. The girl died on the spot.
The court heard that Jelly Dube, a sibling to Sipho and the girl’s mother, saw him emerge from the hut carrying a bloodied axe.
She rushed into the hut to find little Princess lying unconscious on the doormat with several axe cuts on her body.
Magistrate Masuku denied Dube bail and ordered him to undergo psychiatric evaluation while awaiting trial at the High Court.
The court heard that Jelly Dube, a sibling to Sipho and the girl’s mother, saw him emerge from the hut carrying a bloodied axe. She rushed into the hut to find little Princess lying unconscious on the doormat with several axe cuts on her body.
Online Reporter