A dispute over sadza and rice ended in a gruesome murder after a 39-year-old woman strangled her lover with his jacket hood, then allegedly mutilated his body with a broken door handle.
Charlotte Choto was convicted of murder with constructive intent in aggravating circumstances by the High Court after Justice Catherine Bachi Mzawazi rejected her claims that she had killed Jehu Rubaba in self-defence during a violent domestic altercation at their Domboramwari home in Epworth, Harare.
The tragedy unfolded on December 27, 2025, when Rubaba returned home after drinking beer and found his family eating chicken and rice.
He was unhappy with the meal because he preferred sadza after drinking alcohol.
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But when he attempted to prepare sadza for himself, Choto objected, setting off an argument that escalated into a deadly bedroom confrontation.
According to the court, the five-year relationship descended into violence after Choto followed Rubaba into their bedroom, where the couple fought behind closed doors.
Choto claimed Rubaba attacked her first, throwing a punch that missed and smashed a window before grabbing her by the throat.
She said she grabbed the hood of his jacket from behind and used it to strangle him while trying to defend herself.
But the court dismissed her account, finding that she continued choking Rubaba even after he had become helpless.
Justice Mzawazi said the accused had failed to demonstrate that she was in any imminent danger when she maintained her grip on the deceased's neck.
"When the deceased messed himself, which is a clear indication of collapse, why did she not release the grip?" the judge asked.
"The continued strangulation up to the point of breaking an adult male's neck is not proportionate force to ward off any attack."
The court heard that Choto continued assaulting Rubaba after he had collapsed, using her hands and a broken metal key handle to inflict injuries to his inner thighs and testicles.
Police who attended the scene found his decomposing body lying in a pool of blood, with scratch marks on the floor suggesting desperate attempts to survive.
In an even more disturbing twist, Choto allegedly summoned her three children to witness what she had done to their stepfather.
She then cleaned the soiled room using the deceased's clothes, bathed, changed and washed her blood-stained clothes before going to sleep in another room, leaving his body behind.
The following day, she went with her children to visit an elderly female friend and spent the entire day there.
She returned home and spent another night with Rubaba's remains still inside the house before reporting to the police on December 29.
Her initial report was that Rubaba had returned home injured from a beer hall. She later confessed to the killing after police visited the scene and questioned her.
Justice Mzawazi found her confirmed police statement more credible than her defence, noting that she had given three materially inconsistent versions of what happened.
The judge ruled that although the State had failed to prove that Choto deliberately planned to kill her lover, she should reasonably have foreseen that continued strangulation could cause death.
The court convicted her of murder with constructive intent in aggravating circumstances, finding that the additional assaults on an already helpless victim amounted to torture and degrading treatment.
In sentencing Choto to 20 years in prison, the court said the killing was a tragic example of domestic violence escalating into fatal consequences over an avoidable disagreement.
"Precious life was needlessly lost over Sadza, a meal," Justice Mzawazi said.
The judge said the violence had escalated from refusing to prepare Rubaba's preferred meal to preventing him from cooking for himself, insulting him, physically dragging him and ultimately fighting him.
"This death or altercation could have been prevented by a simple walking away, an exercise of self-control and anger management," the judge said.
The court heard that Choto was a first offender who had endured a difficult upbringing, having been orphaned in infancy and raised by maternal relatives.
She married as a teenager, later divorced and became a single mother before living with Rubaba for five years.
She had spent nearly 10 months in pre-trial incarceration and showed remorse, asking the court and Rubaba's family for forgiveness.
But these mitigating factors were weighed against the brutality of the killing and the suffering inflicted on the victim.
"The accused literally squeezed the life out of the deceased through asphyxiation," Justice Mzawazi said.
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"In addition, she further punished a helpless, lifeless victim through further assaults and mutilations."
The court heard that Rubaba left behind four young children who had lost both a loved one and a breadwinner.
In a further revelation, the victim impact statement indicated that Choto had allegedly been in the habit of beating Rubaba, while his relatives had repeatedly come to his rescue and warned him about the relationship.
The judge said there was no evidence that Choto had suffered battered woman syndrome, which might have helped explain her actions as the release of pent-up anger following prolonged abuse.
Justice Mzawazi said the case highlighted the dangers of unchecked domestic violence, warning that such conflicts could end in fatal consequences.
Had it not been for the mitigating circumstances, the judge said, a 25-year prison term would have been appropriate.
The court ultimately sentenced Choto to 20 years' imprisonment, balancing the seriousness of the offence against her personal circumstances and remorse.
