adminby a Beitbridge magistrate and set free.
Should the State wish to continue with the case it will have to set a trial date in the High Court and summon him to appear since he cannot now be arrested and held in remand unless fresh evidence comes to light.
Zenzo Zhou, who resides under headman Siyoka under chief Stauze, was arrested in Mpande area on June 14 after a woman was twice raped while her two-year-old son watched helplessly. After the rape, the assailant fatally assaulted both of them with a log and an old bicycle frame.
Zhou was suspected as the killer and when he was apprehended he tried to flee from lawful custody during his arrest by detectives from the Homicide Section.
Beitbridge resident magistrate Miss Gloria Takundwa refused to place Zhou on further remand on the grounds that the case had taken long before going for trial at the High Court in Bulawayo.
There was no docket and that the trial date had been set to that effect and hence the prosecution could not detain him any further.
Zhou had been charged with two counts of rape and murder.
At his initial appearance at the magistrates’ courts the prosecution had opposed bail arguing that Zhou did not own any property and that he had no family.
This, he argued, meant he was likely to abscond due to the gravity of the charges.
Prosecutor Mr Reason Mutimba told the court that on June 14 last year in the morning, the killer went to the deceased’s homestead in the same area of Mpande.
The woman, Ceilia Muleya, was asleep with her two-year-old son Philisani Ndou in their kitchen when the killer kicked the door open and gained entry.
The deceased’s husband, Pilate Ndou, was away during that time.
When the kiiller got into the house he demanded to be intimate with Ceilia but she refused and ran away with her son. The killer then pursued her and caught up with the victim while she was 10 metres away from her homestead.
He then raped her twice while the two-year-old son watched helplessly.
After committing the crime the woman threatened to have the killer arrested.
This prompted him to pick a log and attack the woman on the head until she fell unconscious.
The killer was, however, not convinced that the woman had died and picked up an old bicycle frame and continued bashing her on the head until she died.
He then turned on the boy whom he also bashed with the same frame on the head until he died.
The killer then searched the woman and took away her Nokia 1200 cellphone and disappeared from the scene.
The victim’s bodies were later discovered by another villager who alerted the police, leading to Zhou’s arrest on the same day.
They suspected he was the killer since he had blood stained clothes and the stolen cell phone was recovered from him.
Online Reporter