A Gweru woman returning from an all-night prayer allegedly fatally stabbed her husband’s girlfriend with a kitchen knife after finding her in a compromising position with her husband on their matrimonial bed, appeared in court before Provincial magistrate Beaulity Dube on Monday morning.
Stacy Thokozani Mkhandla (34) of 1929/2 Mkoba 14, Gweru was not asked to plead to charges of murder as defined in section 47(1)(a)(b) of the criminal law, was reminded in custody to 26th February 2024.
State counsel Christine Shoniwa told the packed courtroom that Mkhandla was not a good candidate for bail as she may be vulnerable to the Phiri’s family and the community.
The court heard that Mkhandla stabbed Phiri twice on the left breast, once on the left arm, once on the head near the eye to the ear and once on the back.
Phiri passed on the road fleeing the scene and Stacy had a stab wound on the left thumb.
Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the murder of Brightness Phiri (27) at the hands of her rival Stacy Thokozani Mkandla (34).
“I can confirm a murder case which happened in Mkoba 14 suburb in Gweru on February 10 at about 4am. A female Brightness Phiri (27) of Mkoba 14 succumbed to several stab wounds following an attack by another woman Stacy Thokozani Mkandla (34) who had found her in her matrimonial bed with her husband,” he said.
It is alleged that the now murder suspect Mkandla had left her home the previous day on Friday at about 7pm going for an all-night church prayer in Senga suburb leaving her husband Tafadzwa Emmanuel Munyoro at home.
“She returned earlier than usual the next morning at about 4am and she unlocked the screen door to their house and went to their bedroom where she found her husband with the now deceased sleeping in bed,” said Insp Mahoko.
He said Mkandla allegedly took a knife from the kitchen intending to stab Phiri but her husband repealed the attack and went out of the house with the knife.
The two women, Insp Mahoko said, remained in the house where the suspect is alleged to have taken another knife and stabbed her husband’s girlfriend several times.
“The now deceased managed to escape and scaled over a precast wall and ran away naked. She however collapsed and died while fleeing in the next street. The police attended the scene and Mkandla who handed herself to the police is assisting with investigations,” he said.
Speaking through her prominent Gweru-based lawyer Mr Esau Mandipa of Mutatu and Mandipa Legal Practice, Mkandla said she went and left their two children at her mother’s house in Southdowns on Friday evening before she proceeded to the Senga suburb for a church all-night prayer.
“During the all-night prayer, I received a phone call from my neighbor around 1am who told me that there was another woman with my husband in my house,” she said.
Mkandla said she asked for one of the church members to take her home alleging that there was an emergency.
“When I got home, the kitchen door was not locked. In the kitchen I noticed that there were plates on the table and some dirty pots on the stove indicating that food and been prepared and eaten in my absence,” she said.
Mkandla said she opened the bedroom door and switched on the light.
“That is when my husband and this woman realized that I was in the bedroom and I asked my husband who the woman was and he failed to respond. I then pulled the woman by her hair from the bed and dragged her to the kitchen. I picked a knife and my husband grabbed it from me before he went out of the house,” she said.
Mkandla said she started fighting with Phiri before she picked up another knife and stabbed her several times on top of the eye, on the breast and hands.
“I remember the girlfriend saying, ‘mother mandikuvadza’ (mother who has injured me), before she went out of the house and scalled over the precast wall. I didn’t follow her,” she narrated.
Mkandla added that she then removed her clothes that had been spoiled by blood, soaked them in water and started cleaning the house.
“At around 7am, I thought of going to the next line where I wanted to engage this other woman who normally does my household chores. As I was making my way there I noticed people looking at this person who was lying on the ground. I quickly realized that it was the woman I had fought with and went back home,” she said.
At home, Mkandla allegedly called some of her relatives informing her that she had committed a serious crime.
“My relatives came and we went to Nehanda police station where I reported myself to the police. That is when the police went to the scene leading to my arrest,” she said.
A remorseful mother of two said she never intended to kill her husband’s girlfriend but had stabbed her in a moment of anger.#TheSun
