By Desire Tshuma
Harare – Former CID detective Jaison Muvevi has been sentenced to four life terms plus 40 years in prison for a murder spree that left four people dead and four others seriously injured.
Muvevi was sentenced by High Court Judge Justice Gibson Mandaza at the Harare High Court.
He was handed four life sentences for four counts of murder and an additional 10 years for each of four counts of attempted murder, to be served as 40 years.
His victims were Nyarai Round, who was killed in Eastlea in November 2022, Wedza prophet Chrispen Kanerusine also known as Mubvana, Wedza Police boss Inspector Maxwell Hove, and Munashe Majani.
The four attempted murder counts include an attack on a fellow detective and an employee at a school in Mutare.
The court rejected Muvevi’s defence that he was haunted by goblins and evil spirits and was mentally insane at the time he committed the crimes.
State doctors told the court that while Muvevi suffered from mild to moderate psychosis, he knew what he was doing. The court heard that after the killings he fled to Mozambique in an attempt to evade arrest before he was eventually captured and brought back to Zimbabwe.
Passing sentence, Justice Mandaza described Muvevi as a sadist and psychopath and said society would be safer without him.
Muvevi will spend the rest of his life in prison.