By Mary Taruvinga

A 25-year-old Chegutu man, Ideology Admire Hove killed his son by hanging him with a shoelace after a misunderstanding with his wife over infidelity allegations.

Hove accused his wife Getrude of bedding other men and during the heated argument, the wife told him that the deceased two year old boy was not his.

He went on to vent his anger by trying to wipe out his whole family but only managed to kill the minor, Adreage.

Hove recently escaped the hangman’s noose when he appeared before High Court judge Justice Moses Foroma.

Justice Foroma on Thursday convicted Hove of a lesser offence, culpable homicide and slapped him with a 10-year jail term.

Foroma said Hove should be pardoned because he committed the offence under rage.

The Judge also ruled that Hove’s term will run concurrently with another 10-year jail term that he received after Chegutu Magistrate convicted him of attempting to kill his wife.

The incident leading to the gruesome killing occurred on July 1, 2018 at Stonegate Farm in Chegutu.

It was that State’s case that during a heated argument with his wife Hove was told the child he thought he had sired infact belonged to another man.

“His wife indicated that the child was not his and he assaulted her. The wife fled and accused proceeded to his in-laws’ residence. On arrival he took his son who was playing with other children and left with him without saying anything to anyone,” read part of the statement of agreed facts.

“He took the child to a nearby bush where the accused removed his shoes and took the shoelaces and used one of them to hang his son on a tree. He took another shoelace and tried to hang himself by it snapped. At that juncture his son had already passed on and he left the place and went back to his in-laws’ homestead where he tried to kill his wife,” said prosecutors.

The court heard Hove was then “filled with panic and regret” again attempted to end his life by taking rat poison but miraculously vomited to survive.

He later fled to his uncle’s residence in Zhombe where he was subsequently arrested.

The body of his son was discovered three days later in a decomposing state.