HWANGE – The High Court in Hwange has sentenced a 31-year-old maid to 25 years in prison after she was found guilty of helping her husband kill their employer in a cold-blooded plot to loot his property and raise money to buy a taxi.
Justice Evangelista Kabasa, sitting with two assessors, convicted Sheila Ndlovu of murder with aggravating circumstances, ruling that she willingly participated in the attack just two weeks after she and her husband had been employed at the victim’s farm.
“This was a murder committed in aggravating circumstances,” Justice Kabasa said in her ruling. “You and your husband set out to kill and accomplished that mission. It was premeditated and carefully executed, taking the deceased completely by surprise.”
The court heard that on 28 December 2022, Ndlovu’s husband, Baron Chigudu, struck the farm owner with an axe. Ndlovu not only handed him the weapon but also urged him to “finish him off” so the victim would not scream.
The couple tied the body to the victim’s own vehicle, dragged it to a disused mine shaft, and dumped it inside along with his clothes, an axe, cow hides, and other items in a bid to conceal the crime. Police later recovered the decomposing remains 20 metres deep, together with looted household property worth US$7,811.
Ndlovu attempted to argue that she acted under her husband’s compulsion, but the court rejected the defence.
“She was not threatened or coerced. Greed got the better of her and she found the plan attractive,” Justice Kabasa ruled. “Using an axe to bludgeon a human being on the head shows an intention to kill.”
The judge described Ndlovu as remorseless and said she betrayed the nurturing instincts expected of a woman.
“A woman is supposed to have a nurturing character, gentle and kind-hearted. You did not show any of these traits,” Justice Kabasa remarked. “Your being a woman does not justify a departure from the penalty such an offence deserves.”
She further condemned the couple’s attempt to cover up the crime, saying it reflected “utter disrespect for a dead body, one you had already disrespected by callously ending his life.”
Chigudu was committed to Mlondolozi Special Institution following a special verdict, while the couple’s two young children have been left without parents.
Despite Ndlovu’s status as a first offender and her two-and-a-half years in pretrial custody, the court ruled there were no mitigating circumstances.
“You will live with the stigma of being labelled a murderer,” Justice Kabasa told her, before imposing the 25-year jail term.
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