Mother drowns 3-year-old son in river to please her boyfriend

Joyce Madzimure, a 25-year-old woman is reported to have allegedly drowned her son (3 years old) in a river in order to end his constant disturbances as she and her boyfriend were enjoying their affair. Farai Sigauke was the name of the victim.

It is said that Joyce and her lover, Amos Chipare, conspired to drown the little boy after they agreed that he was too much of a nuisance to their relationship.

Joyce Madzimure who comes from the village of Gwatinyanya is said to have separated with her husband last year before she fell in Chipare’s arms.

What’s unfair is that the new couple kept the death of the child a secret until when they broke up, that’s when Joyce confessed to having drowned the boy, months after reconciling with the child’s father, who as it was preferred, was never named in court.

Chipare and Madzimuze are set to face murder charges on the 13th of July after Mr. Langton Ndokera, the Masvingo Provincial Magistrate referred their case to High Court.

"Madzimure and Chipare worked in common purpose to throw Farai into the river and left him to die. The two allegedly agreed to kill the innocent child who they said was disturbing their affair. However, all hell broke loose when the couple's affair ended on November, following a dispute over an unknown subject," said Mr. Fidelicy Nyamukondiwa on the State’s behalf.

It is also said that before the couple drowned the little boy, they took off his clothes and hid them behind a bush close to the river.

The death of Farai was known after Joyce and her husband (Farai’s father) rekindled their love, only for the father to realize the child was dead upon asking. Joyce was the one who confessed herself but asked the husband to keep it a secret.

However, the man immediately reported the matter to police who later arrested Chipare and Madzimure.

A fisherman, fishing in the river, recovered the body thinking he had caught an unusually big fish.

The body was later taken to Masvingo General Hospital Mortuary to undergo post mortem. However, doctors said that they were unable to perform a definite autopsy because of the progressive state of the body’s decomposition.