Murder suspect acquitted after State fails to link him to killing

A Bulawayo High Court judge has acquitted a man accused of murder after ruling that prosecutors failed to produce evidence linking him to the killing, bringing to an end a case in which the deceased’s wife searched for her missing husband through his girlfriend before learning he had last visited the accused. Justice Ngoni Nduna found Daniel Chamisa not guilty at the close of the State case, saying there was no basis to place him on his defence. “It is clear that there is no viable evidence upon which this court can rely to place the accused on his defence.

This is a prosecution that should not have been commenced at all,” the judge ruled. The court heard that the deceased disappeared on December 3, 2025. His wife testified that after failing to locate him, she contacted his girlfriend, Kudakwashe Ngurunda, to ask if she knew where he was.

The girlfriend told the court she had seen the deceased on the day he disappeared and that he intended to visit Chamisa, whom she described as a prophet. She later established that the deceased had indeed gone to see the accused. Another witness, a relative of the deceased, also told the court he had tried to trace the missing man through Chamisa without success.

The deceased’s body was found about four days after he went missing. The investigating officer testified that he later arrested Chamisa, but the judge said the prosecution had failed to produce evidence directly linking him to the murder. Nduna criticised the investigation, saying key evidence had not been pursued.

“Efforts should have been made to trace the cell phones that the deceased had, as these were never recovered,” he said. The judge also rejected the State’s reliance on another murder case, saying it involved forensic evidence that was absent in the present matter. Finding that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case, Justice Nduna acquitted Chamisa without requiring him to present a defence.

“There is no evidence before the court requiring the accused to answer the allegations against him. He is accordingly found not guilty and acquitted at the close of the State case,” he ruled. Chamisa was standing trial for murder in connection with the disappearance and death of the man in December 2025.