Chivhu killer mother gets four life sentences for ...

Chivhu killer mother gets four life sentences for gruesome murder of her four daughters

Zim Now Writer

Chivhu woman, Emelda Marizanhi, 32, who killed her four daughters by slitting their throats with a kitchen knife in 2020 has been served with four life sentences behind bars.

Passing sentence Friday, High Court Judge, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi justified the prison term citing that she was a dangerous criminal who deserved no mercy after the mass murder.

“Accused is a highly dangerous criminal, the court will show little to no mercy to a mother who butchers her own children.

“Cut throat method was savage and brutal whilst poisoning is considered a more humane way to take life," he said.

Marizanhi claimed that she committed the gruesome act out of love in order to protect her children.

She laid blame for her actions on a history of mental illness. However, the psychiatrist who examined her, Dr Patrick Mhaka, in an affidavit opposed the claim, confirming the accused to be of a stable mind.

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

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.