By Bulawayo Correspondent
A 31-year-old Bulawayo woman, Nomzamo Luhle Dube was on Monday sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing her husband with a kitchen knife.
High Court Judge, Justice Maxwell Takuva convicted Dube for killing her late husband, Martin Luther Jabulani Ncube (30) in March last year.
In sentencing Dube, Justice Takuva said cases of spouses killing one another with kitchen knives were on the increase in the country.
“These courts discourage domestic violence which results in unnecessary deaths. Kitchen knives should be reserved for cutting vegetables and meat. They should not be used as murder weapons. Such cases are now prevalent.
“This trend must be nipped in the bud and the courts can do that by imposing stiff penalties to the perpetrators,” said Justice Takuva while delivering his verdict.
Prosecuting, Kudakwashe Jaravaza told the court that on March 2 last year at around 7.30pm, Ncube left his home with five friends for a beer drink at a shopping centre in his neighbourhood.
Dube followed him and caught up with six men along the way. They then proceeded together to the shopping centre where they had drinks. The court heard that at around 10pm, Dube in the company of her husband’s friends left the pub and went home leaving the deceased drinking beer.
“The deceased arrived home at around 1am the following morning and knocked on the door. Dube ordered her 10 year-old daughter to open the door for her father,” Jaravaza told the court.
When Ncube entered the house, Dube started shouting at him for coming home late during which an altercation ensued between the two.
Ncube slapped Dube on the face and pushed her against the wardrobe.
An irate Dube went to the kitchen from which she returned armed with a knife. She stabbed Ncube with the knife once on the left side of the chest. Ncube collapsed.
Dube tried to resuscitate her husband by pouring water all over his body but he did not respond.
She called for an ambulance and on arrival, the crew examined Ncube and pronounced him dead.
In mitigation, Dube‘s lawyer Shepherd Huni said the convict is a breadwinner with two children who needed to be looked after. The lawyer also submitted that Dube was drunk when she committed the offence.
