Online Reporter
Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
AN unrepentant rapist and killer has been jailed for life after being convicted of knifing his niece, whom he had earlier raped, to death barely a few months after being released from prison through the Presidential Amnesty sometime last year.
High Court Judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi sentenced Khuliso Tshuma to life in jail after finding him guilty of stabbing his niece, Priscilla Tshuma to death at their rural home in Plumtree on December 24, 2024.
Tshuma was initially jailed for 12 years after being convicted of raping Priscilla, whom he later killed.
He then benefited from a general amnesty granted to prisoners in certain categories of offences and those who had served specified durations of their sentences.
At the time that Tshuma was incarcerated at Khami Maximum Prison, Priscilla chose to move on with her life.
Ironically, she joined the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS), the institution charged with rehabilitating her rogue uncle.
She was, however, based in Harare.
Upon his release, Tshuma returned to his rural home, where he had perpetrated the heinous sexual crime.
Shortly after and most likely unaware of the danger that awaited her, Priscilla decided to go home for the Christmas holiday at her grandparents’ homestead in rural Plumtree on December 23, 2024.
Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, Tshuma shamelessly began showing signs that his lust for his niece had not ceased.
The court heard that when the family gathered that evening, Tshuma tried to forcibly sit next to Priscilla, but she openly snubbed him.
Tshuma waited until the next morning when his niece was sweeping the house and stabbed her several times with an okapi.
She died instantly.
Tshuma then nonchalantly walked out of the yard and disappeared.
He was only arrested days later.
At trial, Tshuma hardly denied anything.
“The murder appeared to have been an act of either uncontrolled savagery or unmitigated revenge. Either way, it puts the offender in no different space than a person who rapes his victim and murders her,” said Justice Mutevedzi.
“What is also worrisome is the offender’s lack of remorse and contrition.
“Clearly, he did not reform from his past conduct. Our view is therefore that the offender must be visited with the severest punishment available.
“The term of 20 years imprisonment suggested by counsel for the offender will not only be a slap on the wrist, but will also be a recipe for destroying the public’s confidence in the efficacy of the criminal justice system’s capacity to protect citizens,” he said.
Justice Mutevedzi then sentenced Tshuma to life imprisonment.
