by YESHUA CHIKETO
ON OCTOBER 29, Lance Corporal Mangena, a soldier stationed at 41 Infantry Battalion, was fatally stabbed in Mutare.
He was attending a basic driver’s course at 3 Infantry Brigade Headquarters and had visited his girlfriend, Lucia Saunyana, 22, at her Mountain Riseresidence.
Kumbirai Mugona, 45, of Chikanga Phase 2, who was also in a relationship with Saunyana, phoned her demanding to see her. She told him not to come. He arrived around 10:20pm in his Toyota Hiace.
Saunyana fled upon his arrival.
Police initially reported that Mugona entered the house, found the soldier naked in bed, retrieved a knife from his vehicle and stabbed him several times in the abdomen.
Mugona then drove himself to ZRP Chikanga to surrender.
Officers found Lance Corporal Mangena unconscious in a pool of blood and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Mutare General Hospital.
Recently, the High Court of Mutare found Mugona guilty of murder.
The trial revealed a more complex scene.
Saunyana’s roommate, who had moved in only three days earlier, testified that Mugona had driven them home from work that evening.
Later she overheard a telephone argument in which Saunyana told him not to come. Later that night the roommate heard another man’s voice—the deceased—in the room.
Mugona’s account differed.
He claimed he found the deceased sitting half-naked on the floor eating sadza. He asked what business he had in the house, asserting that he paid the rent.
The deceased first said he was the roommate’s boyfriend, then admitted his relationship with Saunyana and asked for forgiveness. He offered compensation.
Mugona instead demanded payment for property in the room.
Mugona said the deceased attacked him with a hoe, striking his head and back. He threw mayonnaise bottles in defence—one empty, one full—both breaking against the soldier. They wrestled for the hoe, then fought with fists. Mugona lost a tooth. The soldier cut the lights and choked him. Feeling near death, Mugona grabbed a knife from dishes on the floor and stabbed the soldier in the stomach.
Other tenants testified that they heard the victim shout, “Aren’t there any men in this house? I am dying.” They found him naked in a pool of blood in the passage and saw Mugona holding a bloodied knife.
One witness described Mugona cutting the victim’s stomach as a fatal blow, with Mugona declaring he would teach youngsters not to take another man’s wife.
The defence argued self‑defence under section 253 of the criminal code, then switched to provocation. The judge rejected both, finding Mugona’s version inconsistent with the physical evidence.
The prosecution, led by Malvern Musarurwa, noted that a soldier’s life had been lost and that the government had invested heavily in his training.
Mugona’s lawyer requested 15‑20 years, citing the year already served in prison, $1,000 paid towards the funeral, and a pledge of $7,000 to the deceased’s family of which $3,500 had already been paid.
The judge sentenced Mugona to 45 years imprisonment.
Saunyana has not been seen since that night.
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