Harare High Court judge Justice Amy Tsanga sentenced Pastor Madalitso Ranchi of Living Word Cidatel to 20-years in prison for killing his wife Pamela Muzondo in 2015. Ranchi pleaded not guilty saying that he only assaulted his wife in anger after catching her red handed with her lover, one Stanford Bonde. However, the judge dismissed his claims saying there was no evidence of infidelity and found him guilty regardless. She pointed out that Ranchi had created his own version of how to get away with murder, as he had briefly fled to Malawi.
Justice Tsanga ruled:
For whatever reason the accused assaulted the deceased, it was certainly not because he was provoked by Stanford, because there was no Stanford Bonde at his residence on the 24th of July as he alleged nor on the 25th of July when his wife was last seen alive by her children.
He has clearly continued to imagine in his head that if he continues to regurgitate falsehoods they might just become believable. His explanation that he returned to turn himself in was obviously false as he headed nowhere near a police station when he arrived.
The appropriate sentence in this case which fits the offence and the offender is 20 years.
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