Officer shoots self dead over affair with teen

Kenneth Mawonga aged 38 a Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, ZPCS officer stationed at Little Kraal Farm in Nyazura killed himself with a service rifle following a wrangle with his wife over his alleged affair with a Form Three student.

The deceased was found in a pool of blood by his workmates who had rushed to the scene after hearing gunshots. ZPCS’ PR officer for Manicaland, Chief Correctional Officer Liberty Mhlanga confirmed the incident. He, however, could not divulge more information saying investigations were underway.

“We confirm the regrettable incident, and investigations into the circumstances around the suicide are in progress,” he said.

Homicide detectives handling the case revealed that Mawonga had a misunderstanding with his wife over his alleged affair with an underage school girl. Following Mawonga’s death, detectives went through his cellphone chats and discovered that he was at loggerheads with his wife over the alleged affair. The late Mawonga’s wife, Sharon Paimupindu (31), confirmed the couple had spoken about the extramarital affair.

“These are just assumptions of what could have caused the suicide based on the cellphone conversations. We want to really dig deep into the matter and find out what happened,” said a detective who requested anonymity.

It is alleged that on September 29, Mawonga commenced duty in the morning and was deployed to do perimeter checks around prisoners’ cells. At around lunch hour, he requested to change guard points with another officer saying he did not want to continue working at the guard point he had been deployed. The officers agreed to exchange guard points and Mawonga got the service pistol. Mawonga took over at the Corner Post until late in the afternoon when gunshots were heard.

An alarm was raised, resulting in all prison officers combing the area to establish what had transpired. Upon checking the Corner Post guard room, the officers discovered Mawonga’s body in a pool of blood. A nurse who was summoned to attend the scene confirmed his death. The matter was reported to the police.

Detectives who attended the scene found that Mawonga had wounds on his head, below the chin and on the left nostril. Spent cartridges were picked from the underside of his chin. The rifle in question was also recovered.

Cases of suicides keep rising in Zimbabwe, especially among adult males.