A crime of passion, or crime passionnel, in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially murder, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as sudden rage, rather than as a premeditated crime.
A typical crime of passion might involve a husband who discovers his wife has made him a cuckold and proceeds to brutally batter or even kill his wife and the man with whom she was involved.
The act, as is suggested by the name — crime passionnel in French — is often associated with the history of France. However, such crimes have existed and continue to exist in most cultures. Zimbabwe is no exception.
Last week we reported that a Fort Rixon man in Insiza district stabbed his neighbour’s herdboy with a spear, plucking out his eyes and cracking open his skull resulting in brains spilling for flirting with his wife.
Frank Ncube, 34, of Pioneer Village 3 in Insiza District committed the crime after he found Ndabezinhle Sibanda in a sex romp with his wife, Catherine Dope, 22, in their matrimonial bedroom.
The incident happened in front of the couple’s two-year-old son.
Barely a week, we had carried a similar story of Mandlenkosi Ncube, 34, of Robert Sinyoka Village on the outskirts of Bulawayo who also allegedly hacked his wife with an axe on the cheeks, arm, leg and cracked open her skull after he caught her having sex with a boyfriend.
Indeed such unpleasant incidents make sad reading.
The growing trend of crimes of passion is worrying. Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha recently noted in one of his rulings that the age group of between 18-35 years was causing havoc in society at the slightest provocation.
“The age group of between 18-35 years is causing havoc in society at the slightest provocation. The group resorts to using dangerous weapons, inflicting injuries on the victim,” he said.
We cannot agree more with Justice Kamocha in his observation and his words of wisdom.
We therefore implore organisations that deal with issues of gender based-violence to chip in and intensify their efforts in educating people, particularly young couples, about the dangers and effects of domestic violence.
More anti-gender based violence campaigns and outreach counselling programmes especially in rural communities should be expanded.
However, in as much as capital punishment would not effectively deter any form of crime in whatever way, we strongly feel there is a compelling need for couples to remain faithful to each other to avoid the recurrence of crimes of passion.
Couples facing marital problems should also approach elders from their families, church leaders and the police for counselling to avoid the recurrence of crimes of passion.
In some instances lives are lost when one of the parties in a marriage suspects that his or her partner has strayed but the final loser at the end of the day are children who are left either without a mother or father as one of the parties would either be dead or serving a long sentence in prison.
