A MAN accused of the gruesome murder of his wife has told a court that he is scared and sleep-deprived because she is haunting him in visions where she appears “with fire in her eyes”.

Givemore Nyazvigo, 30, killed his wife with a single blow to the head with an axe, dismembered her body over three days before scattering her remains, the Bulawayo Magistrates’ Court heard.

Nyazvigo, of Hillside suburb, cut a pitiful sight before magistrate Tawanda Muchemwa on Monday as he pleaded to be put in a shared cell – hoping this would ease his nightmares.

He was remanded in custody to Tuesday, September 6, for a hearing to confirm his statements to the police and indications he made to help investigators recover his wife’s body parts.

Prosecuting, Malvin Nzombe told the court that Nyazvigo was locked in a heated row with his 25-year-old wife, Lydia Sibanda, on August 13 last month.

Nyazvigo, prosecutors say, told detectives that he covered his wife’s body with a blanket and began a three-day drinking binge – taking breaks to chop her body into several small pieces which he wrapped in plastic bags.

Three days after the killing, it is alleged Nyazvigo carried the plastic bags with his wife’s remains and, starting with the heaviest, began dropping them off at various locations.

After the dumping, prosecutors say Nyazvingo visited his sister in North End suburb where he confessed to the gruesome killing. She called the police.

Following his arrest, he led detectives to three locations -- Ingutsheni Central Hospital, Famona and North End -- where various human body parts were retrieved.

Nyazvingo told detectives that he had flushed some body parts down the toilet, including his wife’s liver. Detectives also dug up a section of the couple’s yard where he had made indications that he buried her intestines, but nothing was found.

In court on Monday, despite not being asked to enter a formal plea, Nyazvingo admitted murder, but he insisted he did not know why he killed his wife “whom I loved very much”.