admin
Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
A POLYGAMIST from Shamva will spend 20 years in jail for killing one of his 12 wives at the height of a domestic dispute on suspicion of adultery.
Joseph Chogugudza (52), who is notorious for using force to keep his family in line, has 48 children from his 12 wives.
He fatally assaulted one of his young wives, Emerina Gangira, with an electric cable inflicting injuries from which she died.
Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa, in passing sentence in the High Court in Harare, said: “Judging by the number of femicide cases that this court is dealing with, one can justifiably conclude that the fight against gender-based violence is far from over.”
The judge said Chogugudza’s assault was one of the numerous cases in which a woman had lost her life at the hands of her husband whose egotism she described as beyond measure.
“The notion that a married man owns his wife’s body and soul does not have a place in this modern day age”, the judge said, adding that Chogugudza’ wanton assault on his wife which resulted in her death could not go unpunished.
“This was no ordinary assault as some of the blows were aimed at the head and the deceased (Gangira) suffered brain injuries among other injuries.”
The murder trial of Chogugudza started in March last year and he was convicted in November the same year, before the court reserved the matter for sentencing last week. Chogugudza killed his wife in front of the couple’s seven-year-old son, Elisha.
The boy was one of the prosecution witnesses and during trial gave an account of the harrowing experience of how he witnessed the painful death of his mother.
Justice-Munangati-Manongwa noted that the boy was exposed to a high degree of violence at a tender age and would live with the trauma for his entire life.
“The extent of the psychological effect and damage on him remains unknown in the absence of a report from a psychologist,” she said.
“To this end, the judge said society and Chogugudza’s family needed to be protected from a tyrant like the polygamist who should be incarcerated for a lengthy period of time as sought by the prosecution.
Chogugudza from Mandimu village under Chief Musana in Shamva fatally assaulted Gangira with an electric cable on April 12, 2021 following an altercation when he accused her of infidelity.
He denied the murder, claiming self-defence.
The polygamist claimed that on the day of the assault, Gangira left home without informing anybody. On her return, he quizzed her as to where she had been but alleged she became violent and attacked him with household utensils and grabbed his private parts.
In a bid to rescue himself from the grip of his wife, Chogugudza said he grabbed an electric cable and struck Gangira several times on her body.
After the beating, the polygamist claimed that Gangira confessed to being in love with three men from the neighbourhood. But the court found his evidence to be contradictory in several aspects.
Chogugudza has since paid a civil penalty of 10 head of cattle to appease the family of his wife. Now he serves a long jail sentence for the killing.
Online Reporter