HARARE-(MaraviPost)-A Zimbabwean High Court has convicted two men for the murder of Harare businessman Sipho Million Ncube, in a case that relied heavily on forensic evidence more than five years after his killing.
Elvin Saungweme Dongo and Dellon David Balani were found guilty last week by Justice Malin Tommasi, who is now expected to sentence the pair.
A third accused, Munyaradzi Mawadze, who was alleged to have acted with them in a plot to rob and kill Ncube, will be tried separately.
Ncube, a well-known cellphone dealer in the capital, disappeared in March 2020, prompting a frantic search by family and business associates.
His body was later recovered following information provided to police.
The breakthrough in the investigation came from two key exhibits. A knife, stained with blood and hidden in a bushy area in the Waterfalls suburb of Harare, was recovered after Balani directed investigators to its location.
Clothing bearing blood traces was also recovered from Dongo’s residence after he had pointed police to where Ncube’s body was found.
Forensic analysis linked the blood on both the knife and the clothing directly to Ncube, a finding Justice Tommasi described as objective evidence tying the accused to the crime.
A post-mortem examination concluded that Ncube died from acute anaemia caused by severe neck trauma from an incised wound.
The court heard that the fatal injury was inflicted with a knife inside a vehicle in a remote area.
In dismissing the pair’s application for discharge at the close of the State’s case, Justice Tommasi pointed not only to the DNA results but also to statements the men themselves had made during their bail applications, which placed them in the company of Mawadze at or near the scene around the time of the murder.
The convictions mark a major step toward closure in a case that has lingered since 2020, with the court now set to determine the sentences for the two men.
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