Mathew Masinge
THE WOMAN, who was convicted for culpable homicide for stabbing her husband after she caught him having sex with a married woman in the bush, has been jailed two years.
Precious Machivenyika, who is heavily pregnant, was initially sentenced to five years by High Court Judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi.
Three years were suspended on the usual condition of good behaviour.
The court said Machivenyika fatally stabbed her husband Tichaona Chikonje, after she attempted to commit suicide.
Machivenyika had confronted Chikonje over the infidelity with Fungai Nyamurenje at Iron Mask Farm, Mazowe, which he did not deny.
She took an okapi knife intending to kill herself.
Chikonje followed his wife in a bid to restrain her and the two wrestled before he was stabbed on the thigh in the melee.
He bled profusely until he collapsed.
In her defense, Machivenyika said she had no intention of killing her husband and just wanted him to let go of her so that she could commit suicide.
In passing sentence, Justice Mutevedzi found that the attack on the deceased occurred in the heat of the moment, noting that Machivenyika wanted to commit suicide while the deceased was bent on preventing her from doing so.
“That she directed the stab at the deceased’s leg when she could have easily targeted more vulnerable and more dangerous parts of the body illustrates her sincerity in that she did not intend to kill him, but to merely extricate herself from his grip,” said Justice Mutevedzi.