The Chitungwiza man accused of killing Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) member Moreblessing Ali in June 2022 has alleged police threatened to kill him if he did not admit to the crime, reported The Standard.
Pius Mukandi alias Jamba recently appeared at the High Court in Harare. He testified in his defence that the police, who were handling his case also assaulted him.
Mukandi is accused of callously murdering Ali before chopping her body into pieces and dumping the remains in a disused well in Nyatsime.
He was tracked down to Hurungwe where he was arrested while allegedly selling his grinding mill to get money to flee to Mozambique.
Mukandi told High Court Judge Justice Esther Muremba that he was not in hiding, but had visited his relatives in Hurungwe.
He made the claims in his defence after he was asked by his lawyer Garikayi Mhishi if he was admitting to the murder charge. Said Mukandi:
After staying for two weeks in my rural area, l visited my sister and she told me that there were police officers who had visited looking for me.
She told me that they had visited my homestead but did not find me.
After she told me l then decided to go to the police to enquire why they were looking for me.
When l arrived at the police base they asked me how they could help and l identified myself and told them that l heard that they were looking for me and they said, “Harare police is looking for you”.
l was handcuffed and they took me to a room where l was detained.
After a while, they took me out of the room and told me that Harare police officers were coming to take me.
When the police officers arrived they disembarked from their vehicle and l was then surprised when the officers said, “You got us this murderer”.
Mukandi said the police told him that he was lucky he handed himself in otherwise if he had been found at home he would have been shot.
He further claimed that the police officers kept threatening to kill him if he did not admit to the crime.
Mukandi claimed police officers forced him to rehearse a statement where he confessed to killing Ali. He said:
They told me that l should not deny what l did because social media was awash with information on what l did and people were fighting because of that incident.
They said they were in a position to assist me if l listened to them.
They said if I failed to cooperate with them l was going to be taken and killed.
He said the witnesses who testified for the state said he was wearing a yellow T-shirt on the night Ali was last seen at Chibhanguza nightclub, yet he was wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans.
He said the T-shirts and jeans were recovered by the police and were never submitted in court as exhibits.
Mukandi told Chief Prosecutor Michael Mugabe that he was forced to admit to the crime.
Justice Muremba reserved her ruling to 16 November.
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