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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A SOLDIER who allegedly tortured his uncle to death for proposing love to his wife has appeared in court charged with murder.
Bekithemba Sibanda, 27, of Monde Village under Chief Mvuthu outside Victoria Falls, was not asked to plead.
Victoria Falls magistrate Rangarirai Gakanje remanded him in custody to March 1 and advised him to seek bail consent from the High Court.
Sibanda, who is stationed at 1.2 Infantry Battalion in Hwange, looked calm when he briefly appeared in court.
The court heard he had just arrived home when his wife Angela Nyoni told him that Elvis Ngwenya, 42, was “troubling” her with his love proposals.
Sibanda lured Ngwenya to his homestead purporting that he had secured a job for him, it is alleged.
Prosecuting, Takunda Ndovorwi said the trooper gunner committed the crime on Saturday, causing Ngwenya’s death in the early hours of Sunday.
The State alleges that when Ngwenya got to Sibanda’s homestead, Sibanda started accusing him of pestering his wife with love proposals.
“Ngwenya denied the allegations and Sibanda took a stick and started assaulting him severely all over the body,” said Ndovorwi.
He allegedly forced his uncle to do hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups.
Ngwenya was rushed to Victoria Falls District Hospital where he died minutes before 5AM on Sunday.
Sibanda was arrested that Saturday night at Chinotimba Bus terminus where he had boarded a bus to Bulawayo intending to flee.
Online Reporter