A 31-year-old Beitbridge woman has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her 50-year-old husband during a dispute over rent money and the paternity of their baby.

In an interview held at Chikurubi Female Prison in Harare, Geraldine Nyoni, a mother of three minor children, said she killed Majahana Mazibuko after he spent money for rent on beer. She told The Herald:

On March 4, 2017, at around 8 pm we were at our rented quarters in Dulivhadzimu in Beitbridge when an altercation ensued over rentals,” she said. We owed our landlord, and it had been days with me playing hide and seek with him. 

We had earlier discussed the issue with my husband and I had told him that instead of going for beer drinks, he should give me the money so that I would pay our rent.” 

She added that an earlier altercation over the paternity of their then five-month-old baby had led to a bitter exchange of harsh words, with Nyoni telling a drunk Mazibuko that he was not the father of the child. Said Nyoni:

After the altercation, at around 8pm, Zwelibanzi Phakathi and Saidi Chisa, who are my late husband’s relatives, came to our house. They complained over what they said was my ill-treatment of my husband. We exchanged harsh words over the accusations, but they later left and drove away in their car.

Court records show that Mazibuko remained behind and tried to calm his wife who by then was trembling with rage. 

Nyoni is said to have kicked Mazibuko on his private parts and a scuffle ensued again. She narrated:

We started fighting again and I picked up a knife and stabbed him on the right side of the neck. I panicked and ran away to the police station.  

At the police station, Nyoni tried to mislead the police, claiming she had run away from her husband who was physically abusing her.  

Meanwhile, neighbours rushed Mazibuko, who was lying in a pool of blood, to Beitbridge District Hospital where he died upon admission. 

Nyoni was later arrested by police and the blood-stained knife was recovered from their house. 

Nyoni said jail life has changed her and her view on life adding that she “still don’t understand how I could get that angry to an extent of stabbing my husband to death.”  

She hopes that President Mnangagwa would pardon her so that she can go and look after her children whom she said have no one to look after them.

More Pindula News