By Staff Reporter
Jaison Muvevi has been handed four life sentences plus an additional 40-year prison term by the High Court of Zimbabwe after being convicted on multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
The court delivered its highly anticipated judgment, ruling that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The former police detective and gold dealer was found guilty on four counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder. The presiding High Court judge imposed a separate life sentence for each of the four murder counts, supplemented by a 40-year custodial sentence for his attempted murder charges.
During his trial, Muvevi pleaded not guilty, with his defense team claiming he was mentally unstable and “tormented by goblins” during his 2022–2023 shooting spree. However, following rigorous psychiatric re-evaluations that certified him mentally fit to stand trial, the court rejected his insanity plea.
Muvevi’s violent spree began in November 2022 and culminated in a day of terror on January 13, 2023, across Wedza, Harare, and Mutare
- Nyarai Round: Shot and killed in Eastlea, Harare, in late 2022.
- Crispen Kanerusine: An apostolic faith healer gunned down at his shrine in Wedza after giving a prophecy Muvevi disliked.
- Inspector Maxwell Hove: The unarmed Officer-in-Charge of Wedza Police Station, who was shot three times when police attempted to intercept Muvevi.
- Munashe Majani: A 20-year-old bartender shot dead at Murambinda Business Centre.
After injuring another detective, Muvevi fled across the border into Mozambique, where local citizens apprehended him and handed him over to police for extradition back to Zimbabwe. Forensic ballistic testing later cleared him of six other unsolved cold-case murders before this trial commence
