A Chipinge woman allegedly connived with her lover to murder her daughter (4) from her previous marriage so that she gets out of the way for them to get married.
Violet Chabvukwa (36) of Chikwanda Village and Langton Sithole (30) of Charurwa Village were recently arrested for the murder of Blessing Mabhejo.
It is alleged that Sithole’s family could not bless his union with Chabvukwa due to the four-year-old girl.
The two appeared before Chipinge magistrate, Mrs Elizabeth Hanzi facing murder charges and were not asked to plead.
The magistrate remanded them in custody to 17 June and advised them to apply for bail at the High Court.
Prosecuting, Thulani Zondwayo said on 30 May, the lovebirds took the girl to a nearby dam where Sithole suffocated her and placed her body on the banks of the dam before going away.
Police detectives however received a tip-off and attended the crime scene where they discovered that only half of Blessing’s body was submerged in water, an indication that there was foul play.
According to the State papers gleaned by The Manica Post, Sithole admitted that he killed the young girl. He said:
I admit to the charges levelled against me. I was in love with Violet (Chabukwa) who is the mother of the now deceased.
I told Violet that we could not marry each other as my parents would not allow me to marry a woman with a child from a previous marriage.
On May 30, I connived to kill Blessing. I went to the dam first and sat on the dam wall.
Violet then came with the deceased and sat close to me while holding the baby closely.
I took an empty peanut butter container and covered both the nose and the mouth of the now deceased until she suffocated and passed away.
I then took a towel that was in my possession and gave it to Violet so that she could wipe the blood that was coming from Blessing’s nose.
We removed the Blessing’s top garment and placed her body at the edge of the dam while her legs were submerged in the water.