By Samuel Kadungure

RUSAPE – A beer-drinking binge ended in tragedy after a highly intoxicated Rusape man brutally murdered his equally inebriated live-in girlfriend following a heated argument over allegations of infidelity.

The incident — in which Maxwell Musa Jeche allegedly killed Talent Chinyowa on March 12 around 9pm — has become the talk of Rusape.

The tragedy occurred at House Number R248, Vengere where Jeche was accusing his youthful concubine of “dribbling past him” after she had sat next to another man.

The R-Section is the oldest location in Rusape’s Vengere where drunken scenes on the streets now seem like a distinctly modern phenomenon.

The heavy drinking culture in this area of Rusape has left a host of other problems in its wake, as gambling has become rife in surrounding pubs that are also frequented by swarms of ladies of the night.

Preliminary investigations into the matter have established that the deceased and the murder suspect were drinking ZED at the house together with friends.

Later on, a misunderstanding arose between the deceased and the suspect that degenerated into a heated argument, resulting in the murder.

Talent’s body was taken to Harare for post-mortem.

Her burial was expected on Wednesday.

Mourners were for the whole week gathered at the deceased’s parents, which is just a stone’s throw away from Jeche’s quarters.

Jeche’s relatives were by the weekend running around to raise money and cattle to pay Talent’s family.

Jeche, who often exhibited extraordinary drinking habits, was arrested after alarmed neighbours notified the police of the incident.

Police in Rusape confirmed the incident and revealed that Jeche attacked the defenceless woman using an iron bar he took from a wood stove.

The murder weapon, which was used to strike the victim thrice on the back of her head, was recovered from the scene and will be produced in court as exhibit. The Weekender has established that after the heated exchange, Talent went outside, ostensibly to relieve herself.

Jeche then followed her and started assaulting her.

He drew an iron bar from the stove and struck her thrice on the back of her head.

She collapsed and then appeared to pass out, but Jeche and his drinking mates “thought she was sleeping off the effects of the alcohol”.

“We were drinking ZED at Jeche’s quarters and Talent was asked to prepare sadza and she duly complied.

“After finishing, she served it and rejoined us on the beer-drinking spree.

“She went on to occupy a seat next to Tawanda Mutomba since there was no other vacant place.

“This did not go down well with our drunken friend who interpreted that to mean she liked Mutomba more than him,” explained the suspect’s close friend.

Mutomba was asleep due to drunkenness.

“He probed her and demanded to know the motive of sitting next to another man instead of him.

“Talent rebutted and laughed off the allegations, unaware that Jeche was dead serious.

“She later went out, ostensibly to relieve herself, and Jeche followed and started assaulting her,” added Jeche’s friend.

He said Jeche allegedly struck Talent trice on the back of her head and she collapsed and lost consciousness.

Instead of resuscitating her, Jeche is said to have went back into the house and started drinking beer.

After exhausting the wise waters, Jeche and his crew went to a nearby shebeen, in search of another round of alcohol, leaving the victim lying helplessly.

“The deceased was not rushed to clinic. Nothing was ever done to resuscitate her because they had abused too much alcohol. The thinking was that Talent was sleeping off the effects of alcohol.

“Instead, they reasoned it better to go and buy another round of ZED hoping that on returning they will find her up and start drinking again,” explained the friend.

When they discovered that Chinyowa’s body was lying motionless, they summoned help next door and were told by one elderly woman that Talent had died.

The neighbour rushed back to her house on the pretext that she wanted to collect a jersey, yet she was assigning some lodgers to call the police, while she kept an eye on Jeche.

“He was shocked and the next thing on his mind was to commit suicide, but she kept comforting him until police arrived to arrest him.”

Talent’s body, which was covered by a blanket outside Jeche’s house, was removed around 11am the following morning.

On Friday, Jeche appeared before Rusape magistrate Ms Patience Ururu-Madondo and was remanded in custody to March 28.

He was advised to approach the High Court for bail. Manica Post