A Bulawayo woman, Sindiso Ndlovu has been slapped with a 10-year jail term for killing her husband Busani Ncube in an arson attack over infidelity issues.
Ndlovu was convicted by a High Court judge, Justice Nokhuthula Moyo who ruled that evidence before the court pointed at her as the suspect despite her denying the allegations.
During the trial, the court heard that on the 18th of October 2019, while they slept, Ncube received a message from a girlfriend and this caused a misunderstanding between the couple.
Ncube apologised and the issue was seemingly resolved.
However, the following day, Ndlovu doused petrol on her husband before setting him ablaze.
Ncube succumbed to burns a few days later. His wife denied the allegations arguing that her husband had set himself ablaze.
However, witnesses who went to rescue Ncube said they found him in some smoke and no longer in flames.
Charles Malaba and Ndabezinhle Sibanda said when they asked him what had happened he told them that his wife burnt him.
In court, Ndlovu simply denied the allegations stating that she did not commit the offence but her husband had killed himself.
She did not explain her defence, a move which weighed against her.
The magistrate ruled that her behaviour was consistent with that of an offender.
"Tracking the events between the accused and deceased from the 18th of October 2019, it is clear that the accused would be the only person with a motive to harm the deceased," said the judge.
Moyo said it is common cause that Ndlovu and her husband had an altercation about the latter's girlfriend the night before.
"Nothing ever happened between the two of any significance vis-à-vis what later transpired.
"We are told that from nowhere, the deceased just poured fuel on himself and lit himself.
"Apparently for no reason whatsoever. This defies logic and is highly improbable," the magistrate noted.
She said standing alone it may not be sufficient to establish anything but if one looks at the other pieces of evidence already accepted, juxtaposing them, the court should be able to see what the issue of the deceased's burning came from.
"It adds weight to the evidence of Charles Malaba and the deceased's utterances and it is corroborated by the accused's failure to mention in her defence that the deceased burnt himself.
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"Accused knew that deceased burnt himself from the time she perceived it happening, so an adverse inference will be drawn by this court in terms of section 257 of the Criminal Procedure & Evidence Act as already quoted herein, that she failed to mention a crucial fact not only relevant to her defence but central to it.
"A fact that she was aware of at the time the charges were laid against her. What that means is that this is an afterthought.
"Accused, gave a bare denial of the allegations and did not mention her defence which was available at the time, so that she had time to construct it.
"This court accordingly draws an adverse inference on the accused's failure to mention the backbone of her defence.
She ruled, "Looking at the totality of the evidence before me as assessed herewith I am satisfied that the State has indeed proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt against the accused person.
"The accused person is accordingly found guilty as charged."
The court took into consideration that Ndlovu was a first offender with young children.
"She has waited for five years for justice. It would appear from the facts that she did try to assist the deceased by putting out the flames and seeking assistance," said the judge before sentencing her to 10 years in jail.
