Online Reporter
Moreblessing Ncube, [email protected]
A CHECHIRE Farm worker turned poisoner has been caged for attempting to murder two colleagues in a twisted food-tampering plot that left even the dogs dead!
Robert Muleya (44), originally from Binga, was slapped with a 7-year sentence by Bulawayo magistrate Dambudzo Malunga after being found guilty on two counts of attempted murder. Two years were suspended for five years on condition of good behavior, meaning Muleya will serve an effective five years behind bars.
According to prosecutor Owen Mugari, Muleya tried to kill his workmates on 3 December 2024, at Chechire Farm in Nyamandlovu.
“Muleya deliberately poisoned food meant for Sydney Sibanda and Jonathan Tshuma with the clear intention to kill,” said Mugari.
The court heard how a fellow worker, Bongani Tshuma, had tried to stop Muleya the night before the incident. “He told me he wanted them dead. When I warned him, he just said, ‘Some will ingest poison and die like dogs,’” Tshuma testified.
Muleya reportedly used poison found in a discarded five-liter container left in the fields.
That night, the workers slaughtered a cow on the boss’s orders. As the meat was dished out, Sibanda and Tshuma noticed a strange taste in their portions. Within minutes, they were violently ill, vomiting and complaining of severe stomach cramps.
The final nail in the coffin? Two dogs, one of which attacked the other during the chaos, dropped dead after eating the poisoned vomit!
The victims were rushed to St. James Hospital, then transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo for further treatment.
Magistrate Malunga ruled that Muleya had access to both victims’ food, and no one else who ate the same meat fell ill. “This clearly shows targeted poisoning,” she said.
Muleya will now spend the next few years reflecting on his toxic intentions, behind bars.
