Chivhu mother killer of 4 children to be sentenced...

Chivhu mother killer of 4 children to be sentenced Friday

Mother kills 4 children in horror attack | The Herald — File pic of police taking the children's remains from the Chivhu home

Zim Now Writer

The Chivhu woman who killed her four daughters before chopping off their heads and setting the house on fire ended at the High Court Wednesday with Justice Munamato Mutevedzi, who is presiding over it, expected to hand down the sentence on Friday, March 17.

Though Emelda Marizanhi, 32, from Chivhu, laid blame of her actions on a history of mental illness the psychiatrist who examined her, Dr Patrick Mhaka, in an affidavit opposed the claim, confirming the accused is of a stable mind.

The state’s case is that Marizanhi poisoned her four daughters in November 2020 at her Highview residence inChivhu and when she realised they may not succumb to the poison, went on to cut their throats with a knife.

She attributed her actions to an act of mercy as she feared her children would have a miserable life after her husband left her for another woman.

Marai Mupini, her mother and her maternal aunt, Eunice Mutukwa, told the court that Marizanhi was a loving mother and they found it difficult to comprehend that she killed her children.

Marizanhi on Wednesday told the court that she feared her children would be mistreated by their stepmother once she was dead, something that had also happened to her during her own upbringing when her parents separated.

“I also wanted to die and that day I first took rat poison in the form of pills and called my children to take them as well before I instructed them to go to bed.

“I was not breathing well and I realised there were survival chances so to avoid that I had to finish the children off. I then decided to cut their throats with a knife.

“I did this because I did not want my children to suffer and grow up miserable in my absence as I did when I was growing up.”

She told the court of her marriage to husband Lameck Brande and how, together, they had worked hard to establish a thriving business venture. The business, she alleged became the root of their problems as Brande became promiscuous leading to misery in their marital life.

“We had nothing when we got married but we were happy. The problems started when we started amassing wealth. My husband became abusive and was involved in extra marital affairs with several women,” Marizanhi told the court.