HARARE – A Chitungwiza woman has turned chief suspect in the murder of a man she initially claimed to be a stranger whom she got to know when she assisted him following his brutal attack by unknown suspects outside her home.

Nozizwe Mpengesi, 53, faces murder after police investigations picked she was in fact a live-in partner to the late Wilson Muchimwe.

Court heard Friday Mpengesi had earlier claimed she did not know Muchimwe before the incident and only acted as a Good Samaritan who helped the now deceased after he was left for dead outside her house by his attackers.

Mpengesi briefly appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi and was remanded in custody to June 12.

According to prosecutors, Mpengesi filed a report at St Mary’s police station on May 22 claiming she had heard Muchimwe screaming for help outside her house at around 7pm on the day in question.

“She told the police that when she went out of the house to investigate, she saw Muchimwe sleeping on the ground and he had told her that he was bleeding from the forehead because someone had hit him on the head with an unknown metal object,” said prosecutors.

“She also claimed that she did not know him in any capacity.”

Acting on her words, court heard, police at ZRP St Mary’s opened a murder docket against unknown suspects.

Police investigations later discovered that Mpengesi and Muchimwe were actually live-in partners.

It was also discovered that the couple had had a dispute earlier on the day he died.

“The accused person was picked for interviews and it was established that on the fateful day, she had a misunderstanding with the now deceased who came home drunk and complained that she had cooked vegetables instead of meat as relish for dinner which led to a fight and accused fought back and pushed now deceased who fell headlong onto a concrete slab.

“The now deceased started bleeding from the forehead and the accused person proceeded to ZRP Zengeza 5 base and misled the police that same was assaulted at an unknown bar by unknown assailants,” said the state.

Further investigations revealed that Mpengesi took all of Muchimwe’s clothes and shoes and gave them to her sister, one Thandiwe Mpengesi so as to conceal evidence of the two’s relationship.

On 25 May 2022, Mpengesi led detectives to the scene of the crime where she made indications as to how she committed the offence.

She further led to the recovery of a pair of shoes and a jacket which belonged to Muchimwe.