Bulawayo High Court To Handle 25 Murder Cases This Term

THE Bulawayo High Court will deal with 25 murder cases this term and has already deposed two of them in which two suspects were commuted to Mlondolozi Mental Institution last week after they were found not guilty to murder because of insanity.

Among the cases to be heard is a high profile murder by an Old Pumula man, Nhlanganiso Luphahla (36) and his accomplice, Augustine Ncube who allegedly killed a Victoria Falls pupil, Praise Mpofu (16) last year, before throwing her body into the Zambezi River.

Praise who was doing Form Four at Mosi -a-Tunya High School was in the company of her lover, Brian Dube (21), who was doing Upper Six at the same school. Brian was heavily assaulted and left for dead. Charges against the pair are that on 15 July along the Zambezi River, Luphahla in the company of Ncube approached the two lovers Brian and Praise.

Ncube allegedly picked a log and struck Brian at the back of his head and force-marched the two lovers into a secluded area along the river.

The duo allegedly forced the lovers to undress and assaulted them with a log leading to Brian losing consciousness. Ncube then remained guarding Brian while Luphahla took Praise to a nearby bush and tried to rape her before hitting her again with the same log on the head until she died. He later threw her body into the Zambezi River.

Luphahla then went back to Ncube and tied Brian with a laptop cable before stealing money, a laptop and a cellphone and disappeared thereafter.

In the completed cases Justice Nokuthula Moyo commuted a Beitbridge woman, Grace Ndou (24) to Mlondolozi Mental Health Care for treatment after she was found not guilty of murder because of insanity.

Ndou fatally axed her two minor children and has been referred to Mlondolozi in terms of the Mental Health Act after a psychiatrist report confirmed that she was mentally unstable.

She claimed she heard voices ordering her to kill the children, whow were both aged two. She was being represented by a pro-deo lawyer, Esther Sarimana who submitted that her client was denying the charges and prayed for a special verdict in terms of Section 29 of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12 which the judge granted.

In a similar case, a Filabusi man, Melusi Nkala was also found not guilty by Justice Moyo who also granted a special verdict in terms of the Mental Health Act. Nkala was also commuted to Mlondlozi.

He was facing a charge of killing his father (71) with stones after he came from a drinking spree and also indiscriminately assaulted him all over the body with a coffee table, leading to his death. By Richard Muponde. Source: sundaynews