Updated: Mubaiwa faces attempted murder charge

Harare, (New Ziana) – An attempted murder charge was added in court on Monday to the litany of corruption and fraud charges Marry Mubaiwa, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, was facing.

She was arrested at the weekend, and brought to the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday morning, originally facing money laundering and fraud charges.

But while in court, an additional charge of attempted murder – involving her husband – was preferred against Mubaiwa, with the state saying this involved her alleged tampering with medical equipment in a hospital ward Vice President Chiwenga was admitted in South Africa early this year.

Vice President Chiwenga had been unwell for much of this year, and was admitted to hospitals in South Africa, India and China, and returned home from lengthy treatment in Beijing early this month.

State prosecutor Michael Reza told the court that on one of her visits to her husband’s hospital ward, Mubaiwa asked his security aides to leave the couple alone, and used the privacy to tamper with the medical equipment on which Vice President Chiwenga, who was gravely ill, depended on.
The intention, he said, was allegedly to harm her husband.

“Whilst alone with the complainant, the accused unlawfully removed the medical Intra Venous giving set as well as the central venous catheter which were inserted to the complainant and the complainant started bleeding profusely,” the State alleged.

“The accused forced the complainant off the bed, held him by hand and moved out from the ward before being intercepted by security personnel at the exit door. The hospital staff was called by the security personnel and they reconnected the intra-venous giving set and the central venous catheter and resuscitated the condition of the complainant (sic).”

Following the incident, Mubaiwa was banned from visiting her husband in hospital.

In the other cases, she is accused of externalising more than US$1 million, mainly to South Africa where she is suspected to have acquired an expensive house, and two top of the range vehicles using the proceeds.

The funds were allegedly externalised under the pretext it was payment for some imports.

Mubaiwa is also accused of attempting to solemnise her marriage to Vice President Chiwenga without his consent as required by law.

She was remanded in custody to December 30 on the attempted murder charge, while the other related cases were proceeding at the court.
(More follows)
New Ziana