On 24 March 2012, Tambudzai Maya left work heading home to Village 11, Mayo. She never arrived. The following day, cattle herdsmen discovered her dead body with her daughter sitting beside it. The baby was badly injured around the head and face, and the mother's head had been crushed. On 9 September 2012, Violet Chapwanya and her daughter Sandra Nyakweto left Chikotora homestead in Village 4 Mayo after attending a traditional ceremony, heading home to Village 2 Mayo. They were reported missing and their remains were discovered on 19 September 2012. On 23 September 2012, the accused approached Tsikayi Homestead at 21 Nami Farm, Macheke, asking for overnight accommodation. Upon questioning by Jairos Tsikayi and his wife Sylvia Munzvandi, the accused confessed to committing multiple murders in Mayo. A neighbourhood watch member was called, and the accused repeated his detailed confession. He was arrested and transferred to police custody. The accused was charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Count 1 (murder of Tambudzai Maya): Life imprisonment. Count 2 (attempted murder of the baby): 5 years imprisonment. Count 3 (murder of Violet Chapwanya): Life imprisonment. Count 4 (murder of Sandra Nyakweto): Life imprisonment.
Under section 273 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, a court may convict an accused based on a confession alone, provided that: (1) the offence has been proved to have been actually committed by competent evidence other than the confession; and (2) the court is satisfied that the confession is genuine. A confession is genuine where it contains details or facts knowledge of which could only have come from being connected with the crime, and where known facts fit properly into the sequence of the statement. The genuineness of a confession may be established from the nature of the confession itself where there is evidence aliunde proving the offence was actually committed. Where an accused challenges the admissibility of a confession on grounds of involuntariness, the accused bears the onus of proving on a balance of probabilities that the confession was not made freely and voluntarily.
The court made observations on sentencing, noting that while first offender status and confession are mitigatory factors, they carry little weight in cases involving wicked and gruesome crimes against vulnerable victims. The court observed that the accused carefully selected vulnerable women and children who had done nothing to provoke the crimes, raped the women in full view of their children, then crushed their heads with stones in a brutal fashion before inflicting the same violence on defenseless children. The court expressed the view that "society does not need people like you amongst it," indicating that life imprisonment was the only fitting sentence for such crimes.
This case demonstrates the application of section 273 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07] regarding conviction based on confessions. It illustrates the requirements that must be met before a court can convict on the basis of a confession: the offence must be proved to have been actually committed by competent evidence other than the confession, and the confession must be shown to be genuine. The case also reinforces the principles established in R v Sambo regarding how courts assess the genuineness of confessions, particularly where the accused provides details that only someone involved in the crime could know. It further demonstrates the operation of the trial-within-a-trial procedure for determining the admissibility of confessions under section 256, placing the onus on the accused to prove on a balance of probabilities that confessions were not made freely and voluntarily.