Harare Man stabs wife, commits suicide

Gilbert Munetsi

While Christmas is generally an occasion for the exchange of presents, visits among relatives and merry-making, the situation was the very opposite for the Marikopo family of Mabvuku who on the day had to face the task of burying their son.

The partly decomposing body of Brian Marikopo, 30, was discovered hanging from a tree some 60km away in Marondera on December 23, after he had committed suicide early in the week.

A sombre atmosphere engulfed his parents’ Number 676 Chinamhora Street residence in Old Mabvuku, as mourners struggled to come to terms with the tragic demise of a personality described by the neighbourhood as “cheerful” and “full of life.”

A freelance motor mechanic by profession, his abandoned car was found parked a few metres from his scene of death.

Circumstances around Brian’s death are centred around a domestic dispute gone sour between him and his wife, Blessing Nyikadzaramba.

Ironic is the fact that the two solemnised their marriage this very month, back in 2019, and were blessed with two daughters aged five and three.

While an attempt was reportedly made by relatives to mend the broken relations between Brian and Blessing, indications point to a lack of timeous professional counseling on the part of the waring couple.

Issues of mental health have also not been ruled out.

Before deciding to take his life, Brian is said to have forced his wife into his car, driven around the eastern suburbs of Harare before stabbing her on the cheeks with a sharp object and abandoning her body at an acquintance’s residence.

Family members believe he could have assumed he had killed her, a realisation further believed to have compelled him to go on and hang himself.

Meanwhile, the wife is admitted at Chitungwiza Central Hospital where her condition is reported to be critical.

Her family and that of her now deceased partner are battling to raise the US$3 500 needed to have her get specialist medical attention, beginning with an MRI.

Family members who spoke to Zim Now said the dire financial situation was compounded by the funeral costs incurred in laying to rest her husband.

Nyikadzaramba, in her semi-consciousness, is yet to be briefed about the death of her husband as the family dreads the negative impact the news will have on her own health.

Over the past few days, Brian’s FaceBook friends have taken to social media to express varying sentiments regarding the demise if their kith.

Chiedza Madziro questioned: “Ko kuzviuraya kudemonstrater chii nhai nhai? Zvakaoma mufunge zvabamnini vangu. Anyway RIP.”

Alexis Lexie wrote: “Amana kana marriage dzarema idzi ngatizvisiyei tiri vapenyu. Iyi yekuzourayana iyi ummm hazvishande amana. Gaya mababies anenge asara, tisadaro Boyz.”

And one Charleen Johnson in vending her anger, posted: “Haa Brian aita chiCoward ngaaende.”

A month pregnant with ironies, December 25, the day that Brian was laid to rest at Tafara cemetery, also happens to be his father, Patience Marikopo’s birthday.

And the distraught parent had to put up with the burial of one of his four sons at a time he would have expected to be showered with presents on this supposedly important day in his life.

“Ndapererwa mudikani… its as if l am in trance or a nightmare from which someone will awaken me to tell me it’s all a dream.

“My son was the breadwinner of the family and now that he is no more tarohwa panyama nhete.

“Come to think of it, these two innocent little souls (holding Brian’s daughters close to him) will never know what parental love is, moreso as we have a critically injured daughter-in-law battling for her life.

“Our prayers as a family is that she pulls through, that is if we are able to get assistance to meet the hospital bills needed to get her specialist help,” a sobbing Patience Marikopo gathered courage to say.

Adding more ironies to the Brian Marikopo case is the fact that Chinamhora is the same street from which a young woman left home for work one early morning two decades ago, and was fatally stabbed by her boyfriend following a misunderstanding.

What popularised the tragedy was the fact that both girlfriend and boyfriend shared the same first name – Velapi.

Velapi the boyfriend’s body was discovered days later in a rocky area after he had taken his life by poisoning himself.

Though it happened many years ago, the latter story still remains the talk of the old suburb, especially given the fact that the two Velas’ surviving daughter will be getting married this weekend.

The neighbourhood has not helped making mention of similarities in the two tragedies and possibilities of whether Chinamhora has turned into a cursed street urgently in need of exorcism before yet another fatal occurrence befalls it.