Hwange Maid Jailed 25 Years for Murdering Employer 2 Weeks After Being Hired
The Hwange High Court has sentenced 31-year-old Sheila Ndlovu to 25 years in prison after she was found guilty of helping her husband murder their employer in a premeditated plot to steal property and raise money for a taxi.
Justice Evangelista Kabasa, sitting with two assessors, ruled that Ndlovu willingly participated in the crime just two weeks after she and her husband had been employed at the victim’s farm. The judge described the murder as cold-blooded and carefully planned.
“This was a murder committed in aggravating circumstances,” Justice Kabasa said. “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 encouraged him to finish the attack so the victim would not scream.
After the murder, the couple tied the body to the victim’s vehicle and dumped it in a disused mine shaft, along with his clothes, an axe, cow hides, and other household items, in an attempt to hide the crime. Police later recovered the decomposing body 20 metres down, together with looted property worth US$7,811.
Ndlovu claimed she acted under her husband’s compulsion, but the court dismissed this defence. Justice Kabasa noted that she was not threatened or coerced, and that greed had driven her actions.
“Using an axe to bludgeon a human being on the head shows an intention to kill,” the judge said. “You were not forced into this. You found the plan attractive and went along with it.”
The judge also criticised Ndlovu’s lack of remorse and the betrayal of 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. “Being a woman does not excuse the penalty this crime deserves.”
She further condemned the couple’s attempt to conceal the crime, calling it “utter disrespect for a dead body, one you had already disrespected by callously ending his life.”
Chigudu has been committed to Mlondolozi Special Institution following a special verdict, leaving the couple’s two young children without parents.
Despite Ndlovu being a first-time offender and spending two-and-a-half years in pretrial custody, the court found no mitigating circumstances.
“You will live with the stigma of being labelled a murderer,” Justice Kabasa told her before sentencing her to 25 years in prison.
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