Pius Mukandi, also known as Jamba, has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by High Court Judge Justice Esther Muremba for the murder of Moreblessing Ali on 24 May 2022.
Justice Muremba delivered the sentence on Mukandi this Wednesday, 20 December.
Ali was reportedly a member of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and a community leader in Ward 21, Chitungwiza North.
In a statement issued this Wednesday, the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPA) confirmed Jamba’s sentencing. It said:
Pias Mukandi alias Jamba who was convicted for the murder of Moreblessing Ali on the 4th of December 2023 has been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by the Harare High Court.
The State proved that the accused person murdered the deceased following a disagreement on the 24th of May 2022 at Chibhanguza Night Club in Nyatsime.
An eyewitness last saw the deceased being dragged by the accused person by the hair. The deceased’s remains were found dumped in a disused well.
The accused person was later arrested in Hurungwe on the 16th of June 2022 which led to the recovery of the deceased’s clothes, cellphone and a kitchen knife used to dismember the body.
Posting on X, CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Siziba bemoaned the continued incarceration of Job Sikhala, the lawyer who was arrested while representing Ali’s family in June 2022. Said Siziba:
Pius Jamba who brutally murdered Moreblessing Ali has been jailed for 30 years by Harare High Court judge Esther Muremba.
Hon Job Sikhala remains in prison after he represented the family to find Justice after this callous act by the ZANU PF activist.
Mukandi (33) was a resident of Nyatsime in Beatrice when the gruesome murder took place. He was identified by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) as the main suspect in the murder of Ali.
Mukandi is related to Simbarashe Chisango, who is said to be a well-known ZANU PF activist in Chitungwiza.
His mother is Laina Mukandi of Plot 321 Dunnotar Farm in Beatrice where he dumped Ali’s remains in a disused well before disappearing from the area.
On 30 May 2022, ZRP national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi issued a statement which said Mukandi had a scuffle with Ali following a misunderstanding over the latter’s dog.
The incident occurred on 24 May 2022, at around 9 PM at Chibhanguza Shopping Centre, Nyatsime in Beatrice, where Ali had gone to drink beer with her friend Kirina Mayironi.
Mukandi is reported to have had a scuffle with Ali and he dragged her before the two disappeared into the darkness.
On 16 June 2022, Assistant Commissioner Nyathi announced the arrest of Mukandi in the Chidamoyo area, Magunje, Mashonaland West Province, his mother’s home area.
Mukandi had been in hiding since 24 May 2022 when he was last seen dragging Ali from Chibhanguza Shopping Centre.
Police initially claimed that Mukandi and Ali were ex-lovers but it later emerged during Mukandi’s court appearance that it was the first time for him to see the deceased.
Mukandi appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on 18 June 2022 before Magistrate Dennis Mangosi.
The State alleged Mukandi took the now deceased from the vicinity of the nightclub to an unknown secluded place and struck her with an unknown object, before strangling her to death and cutting her body into three pieces.
Mukandi allegedly took the dismembered body parts to her mother’s home and dumped them into a well before fleeing to Magunje.
He was arrested before he could sell a grinding mill to raise transport money to Zambia or Mozambique
Mukandi was remanded in custody to 1 July 2022 and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
This came after the National Prosecuting Authority said it was finalising paperwork for him to be indicted for trial at the High Court.
When Jamba initially appeared in court in 2022, he detailed how he murdered Ali before dismembering her body.
The NPA said, in his warned and cautioned statement, Jamba admitted to the murder charge. He was, however, not asked to plead.
In November 2023, Mukandi alleged police threatened to kill him if he did not admit to the crime. He told High Court Judge Justice Esther Muremba that the police who were handling his case also assaulted him.
He made the claims in his defence after he was asked by his lawyer Garikayi Mhishi if he was admitting to the murder charge.
Mukandi also 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 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.
On 04 December 2023, Justice Muremba ruled that Pius Jamba Mukandi had killed Moreblessing Ali.
Muremba also said it was also her finding that the murder was not politically motivated. Said the judge:
We’re satisfied that the accused is the person who killed Moreblessing Ali because he was the last person to be seen with her.
The state witnesses impressed the court as credible witnesses. They gave corroborating evidence.
It is common cause that the accused and Ali interacted and their interaction was not in the positive.
It is also common cause that Ali did not go home after drinking at the nightclub on May 24 and she was never seen alive again.
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