Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba. Midlands Bureau
A SHOCKING trend has emerged, with some men attempting to justify violent attacks on women by claiming they were driven by passion.
However, Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi, says this is nothing but a thinly veiled excuse for cowardly behaviour, and a stark reminder of the deep-seated issues that perpetuate violence against women.
Justice Mutevedzi said this while sentencing convicted Gweru double killer Peter Dube to two life terms plus 20 years.
Dube, a Gweru-based businessman and polygamist, faced two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder after accusing his second wife, Nyasha Nharingo, of engaging in an extramarital affair.
Wrote Justice Mutevedzi: “Men who kill or brutalise women on the pretext that their actions are driven by passion are nothing but hopeless cowards. It’s senseless to claim to love a woman to the extent of murdering her.”
He said women, like all individuals, are free to make their own choices about their relationships and emotions.
Justice Mutevedzi said every person has the right to decide who they love, who they don’t, and who they want to be in a relationship with, regardless of their marital status.
“In fact, my view is that every woman including those that are married are permitted to love and unlove men.
“It is the reason why the courts are granting decrees of divorce in their thousands each year. The actions and baseless claims of Peter Dube (the offender), typify the stupidity of men who think that they have the divine authority to enslave the women they claim to love,” he said.
Justice Mutevedzi said such men like Dube suffer from the depraved mentality that if they cannot have the woman, no one will.
“But the sooner each man realises that there is always a better man than him, the safer the world will become for everyone,” he said.
It was the State case that Dube, a well-known car dealer fatally shoot Shelton Chiduku, his wife’s alleged lover from Kwekwe and her best friend, Gamuchirai Mudungwe.
He also allegedly shot his wife Nyasha and her sister Nyaradzo, both of whom survived the attack.
According to the State, Dube had married Nyasha as a second wife and was enraged upon learning that she had travelled to Masvingo with the three others without informing him.
Suspecting an affair between his wife and Chiduku, Dube took matters into his own hands.
At around 8pm on the day in question, Dube armed himself with a Zastava pistol and proceeded to No 11 Bensam Flats, Main Street, Gweru where Nyasha resided.
An altercation broke out, prompting Dube to go downstairs where he found Chiduku and Mudungwe. He shot Chiduku, who died on the spot.
As Mudungwe attempted to flee, Dube shot her once in the face. The bullet struck her left cheek near the nose and she collapsed and died at the bottom of the stairs.
Dube then returned upstairs where he shot Nyasha in the right cheek.
The bullet exited through her neck, knocking out a molar tooth and lodging in her shoulder.
He then turned the gun on Nyaradzo, shooting her above the left ear.
The bullet exited and ruptured her right eye.
Nyaradzo later succumbed to the gun shot injuries. Justice Mutevedzi questioned why prosecutors had not added Nyaradzo’s death to the murder charges as she never recovered from her gunshot wounds.
Following the shootings, Dube fled to South Africa then Eswatini where he assumed a new identity. He later travelled to Ireland where he was arrested in Dublin last year for violating immigration laws. He claimed to be a Mozambican national named Armando Quenete Muchanga in a bid to avoid deportation.
Authorities in Ireland deported him to Mozambique, where officials verified that he was in fact Zimbabwean. He was subsequently extradited to Zimbabwe.
