Man kills wife after mistaking her for lion

A MENTALLY-challenged man from Kwekwe has been spared jail for stabbing his wife to death with a kitchen knife after he mistook her for a lion, the court has heard.

Godfrey Sibanda (38) was spared jail after the Gweru High Court ruled that he was mentally unstable.

Sibanda appeared before High Court Justice Nicholas Mathonsi facing charges of murder, he was found not guilty due to his mental condition.

In his defence, Sibanda said when he looked at his wife she appeared to be a lion and he took a knife and after stabbing her thinking he was fighting a lion, but only realised later that he had killed his wife.

Justice Mathonsi said, “Sibanda should not be held responsible for his actions because of his mental condition. Instead, he should get some serious help, therefore, I see it fit not to send him back to jail, but instead he should be transferred to a mental institution.”

It is the State’s case that Sibanda had a heated argument with his wife Moline Maimba (25) and he did not sleep at home that night.

He then went home the next morning, where he found his wife sleeping and stabbed her several times on the chest and the back.

Gift Muradza, their neighbour, rushed to their house when he heard Maimba screaming and calling for help and found Sibanda on top of her, stabbing her.

The court heard that a psychiatrist from a mental hospital in Bulawayo confirmed that Sibanda suffers from mental disorder, epilepsy and was also asthmatic as a result of substance abuse.

It was also confirmed that Sibanda’s family has a history of mental illness since his mother is also a psychiatric patient.

His two brothers are also mentally challenged and they have been seeking help from traditional healers for a long time.