By Fungai Jachi
The Chivhu woman who killed her four daughters told the court she poisoned her children first before slitting their throats to make sure they were really dead as she did not want them to suffer after she was gone as she had also taken the same poison.
While giving her testimony in her ongoing trial, 30-year-old Emeldah Marazani said she slit her children’s throats after she forced them to drink rat poison.
Marazani said since she had taken the rat poison herself she was afraid the poison might fail to work on her children and decided to slit their throats to make sure they were dead.
She told the court that since she had taken the poison, she was scared she could die and that her children could have a chance of survival, hence deciding to make sure the minors were really dead.
Marazani told the court that she decided to end her children’s lives after her husband’s lover had bragged that she was pregnant with a baby boy.
This did not go down well with the accused since she had given birth to baby girls only and her husband had intentions of marrying a second wife.
She also told the court that she was in an abusive marriage as her husband was a womaniser, hence the pain and trauma of the abuse contributed to her actions.
Dr Patrick Mhaka, a psychiatrist told the court that Marazani had not shown any signs of psychosis and that she did not have any history of mental illness.
The doctor ruled out any form of mental instability during the commission of the crime.
Marazani killed her four daughters aged nine, five, three and one in November of 2020 after having marital problems with her husband.
She surrendered herself to the police after committing the offence.
She is arguing that she was mentally unstable at the time of the commission of the offence.
The defence has closed its case and Justice Munamato Mutevedzi has reserved judgment awaiting closing submissions from the State and defence.
