Man fatally stabs girlfriend in S.A, skips border to Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwean man based in Zamdela, Sasolburg Free State Province, South Africa, has appeared in court on allegations of fatally stabbing his girlfriend with a knife over a love text message.

Tendai Kugotsi (26) was facing murder charges when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi.

He was remanded in custody and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

It is the State's case that on Christmas Day 2023, at around 2 am Kugotsi was at his residence in Zamdela, in the company of his girlfriend who is now deceased.

The court heard that Kugotsi had an altercation with the deceased after she received a WhatsApp message from Abraham an Ethiopian national NFPK she once worked with which read ‘I love you'.

During the altercation, Kugotsi took a knife from his kitchen, stabbed the deceased once on the left shoulder and sat on top of the deceased while strangling her thereby causing her death.

After the incident, Kugotsi allegedly fled from the crime scene on Boxing Day and skipped the border into Zimbabwe where he hibernated in Seke, Chitungwiza.

It is alleged that on February 5, 2024, detectives from CID Homicide in Harare, received information about Kugotsi's whereabouts.

They swiftly reacted and arrested him in Chitungwiza.

In a similar incident, a Harare man of no fixed aboard appeared before the same magistrate for fatally stabbing his colleague at the height of an unknown altercation at a shabeen in Mbare.

Simon Manhango faces murder charges.

He was remanded in custody and advised to apply for at the High Court.