Kadoma man acquitted of love-triangle murder after two years behind bars

A Kadoma man accused of stabbing another miner to death in a suspected love triangle has been acquitted after the High Court ruled that police bungled investigations and relied on “genuine but mistaken” witnesses.

Justice Philda Muzofa cleared Mashoko Midzi of murdering Stanly Mpofu, who was stabbed four times and died at Chimwendo Compound, Battlefields, on December 23, 2022.

Midzi had been arrested in dramatic fashion, shot twice by police who claimed he attacked them with a machete. But in a damning judgment, the court said there was no proof he resisted arrest or carried the alleged weapon.

“The evidence placed before us established police high-handedness when they arrested the accused,” Justice Muzofa ruled. “Of all the strange evidence placed before us, the following can take the prize… Surely how can two police officers contradict each other on such a pertinent issue unless nothing of this sort happened?”

According to the State, Mpofu had clashed with Midzi earlier that day at a canteen where they argued over Beatrice Chinamasa, a young cook who had just started working there. Chinamasa later confirmed she was dating Mpofu, but said she never saw Midzi that day and did not know he was allegedly interested in her.

Witness Agatha Sibanda, Mpofu’s aunt and the canteen owner, told the court she saw Midzi chasing her drunken nephew before he collapsed, bleeding heavily. But the judge found her evidence unreliable.

“Her evidence was that she saw his clothes. That is weak identification,” said Justice Muzofa. “Jeans and gumboots are common clothes in the mining communities for men. We conclude that Agatha was a genuine but mistaken witness.”

Midzi insisted from the start that he was innocent, saying he spent the night drinking beer at Fambai Bar with friends and relatives. He raised this alibi in his warned-and-cautioned statement just days after the killing.

The court criticised investigators for failing to properly test that defence. “It was within the police’s capacity to record statements from Moyo Mine, the accused’s companions or someone from Fambai Bar. They did not,” the judge said. “The alibi remained intact.”

Although the State had raised “a strong suspicion” that Midzi may have killed Mpofu, the judge stressed that suspicion was not enough.

“The standard of proof in criminal cases is proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” she ruled. “In this case, the evidence raised many unanswered questions, leading to doubt. In such instances, the matter is resolved by giving the accused the benefit of doubt.”

Midzi was acquitted and walked free after more than two years of fighting the charge.