JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 120 ____________________________________________________________________ He was refused bail by the High Court, the judge finding that he might abscond in view of the overwhelming evidence that he stabbed his wife to death. He appealed to the Supreme Court against the refusal. Dismissing the appeal, Chief Justice Chidyausiku said the evidence against Jongwe “is very cogent, if not overwhelming”, adding that the Jongwe admitted inflicting the wounds found on his wife. The postmortem report clearly established that the attack was savage and brutal, he said. “For the above reasons, I am satisfied that the evidence against Jongwe is overwhelming and the prospects of conviction for an offence for the murder is a virtual certainty. Should the trial court reject his version of events, Jongwe will have problems establishing extenuating circumstances and the death penalty could be imposed.” He said “the temptation for Jongwe to abscond if granted bail is irresistible.” In giving this judgment he made the following statements: “It is pertinent to observe at this point that the State version of events leading to the killing of the deceased is plausible and has a ring of truth, while Jongwe’s version as set out in his statement recorded by the police is riddled with improbabilities.” The judge said then said that according to the affidavit of the police officer investigating the case, Rutendo had met the alleged lover only once previously. “The two hardly knew each other. The deceased was a professional woman. She was married with a seven-month-old baby. The question is: is it likely that a professional woman would desire to be laid on a desk by a man she hardly knew? The door to the office was unlocked and that is why, in Jongwe’s version, he was able to enter [M’s] office and see his wife being intimate with the paramour.” He said the incident was alleged to have happened during working hours when the risk of the parties being caught was “extremely high”, making it highly unlikely. He said Jongwe’s reaction undermined his own story. Given the brutal manner in which Jongwe killed Rutendo, it was difficult to believe that he would simply walk away from a man he had found ravishing his wife, the judge said. The Chief Justice said if the State version was correct, then the conclusion was that Jongwe killed his wife because she had started divorce proceedings against him. “If he could not have her then no one else was going to have her, would be the most logical motive. Such a finding would leave Jongwe with very little prospects of success