4th year MSU student shot dead at point-blank… Police now hunt for the mbinga ex-husband

A Midlands State University student, Lisedi Nkomo, was shot dead at her boarding house in Senga, Gweru, on Thursday, 8 October, and police are searching for her husband, identified as Godknows Muleya.

Nkomo, 25, was a Level 4.1 Psychology student living at KMP Boarding House, student accommodation in Senga near MSU. She was found with a gunshot wound to the forehead inside the residence. Police are seeking Muleya, who is from Bulawayo, and are appealing to anyone with information to contact the nearest police station.

The information supplied on the case places Muleya’s arrival at the boarding house at about 3pm. At approximately 5.30pm, a misunderstanding reportedly arose between the couple over an issue that has not been disclosed. The police account described Muleya as Nkomo’s ex-husband, while the additional details identify him as her husband.

Midlands provincial police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed a murder case in KMP, Senga, and referred further questions to national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi. The updated account places the shooting on 8 October, the day before the police confirmation was provided.

A police report states that Nkomo was shot once in the forehead with an unknown pistol. Other students staying at the house rushed from their rooms after hearing the gunshot. The suspect is said to have threatened them and warned that he would shoot if they did not comply.

“The accused then shot the now deceased once on the forehead using an unknown pistol,” reads part of the police report.

The students were reportedly made to surrender their mobile phones, which were thrown into a toilet chamber. Muleya then locked them in a room with Nkomo’s body before leaving the property. One of the occupants managed to alert the caretaker, who contacted police. The students remained confined in the room until help arrived.

“He reportedly confiscated their mobile phones and threw them into a toilet chamber before locking them in a room where the lifeless body lay,” reads the report.

Muleya reportedly fled in a silver-grey Toyota Wish. Its registration number has not been established. Police officers, detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department and Scenes of Crime personnel from Gweru attended the scene. They examined the room and recovered material connected to the investigation.

The police account describes Nkomo’s body as lying face upwards. She was wearing pink pyjamas, and investigators observed a gunshot wound to her forehead. A 6.25mm cartridge was recovered from the floor. Police also recorded a broken Itel mobile phone and a Samsung Galaxy A05s among the items found in the room.

Further inquiries identified Muleya as a director of a security company based in Bulawayo. Police are searching for him and for the firearm believed to have been used in the shooting. The case is registered at Senga police station under reference ZRP Senga RRB 634817 and is being investigated as murder under Section 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23.

Nkomo’s killing follows other recent domestic shootings in Zimbabwe. Sergeant Portia Dzanwa, 36, was shot dead in Hopley, Harare, on 16 August. The Zimbabwe Republic Police said she was shot in the head with a CZ pistol by her husband, Pharaoh Dombodzvuku, 52. Police said he then shot himself with the same pistol and was taken to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital for treatment under police guard. Investigators recovered the firearm.

Police reporting on the Hopley case said Dzanwa had confronted her husband after their 16-year-old daughter told her that he had sexually abused her. The family had agreed to go to a police station, but the husband instead drove to his brother’s home in Hopley. Dzanwa and her husband remained in the vehicle while the brother took the teenager inside. The brother then heard two shots and found the couple in the front seats. Dzanwa died at the scene; her husband was taken to hospital in critical condition.

In a separate shooting in April, Givemore Tawanda Madzinga shot his wife, Nelisa, 40, in the shoulder at their Glen Lorne home in Harare before shooting himself dead. She survived and was taken to hospital. Their four children, aged 14, 12, 9 and 8, were at the home when the incident occurred.

The April shooting followed a domestic dispute that had reportedly begun the previous evening. On the morning of the incident, Madzinga assaulted his wife and the children. Nelisa urged him to go to a police station, then set out to make a report. As she walked towards the garage, she heard two shots and felt pain in her shoulder. A neighbour helped take her to hospital. A licensed 6.35mm FN Browning pistol was found beside Madzinga’s body.

In Gweru, police are continuing their investigation and searching for Muleya. The students who had been locked in the room were left at the residence after he fled. Police are asking members of the public with information that could help locate him or recover the firearm to contact the nearest police station.