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Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle reporter
A 45-year old Mangwe man who last September allegedly murdered his parents he accused of bewitching him, yesterday appeared before a Plumtree magistrate facing two counts of murder.

Lisani Marcellus Nleya who allegedly murdered his father Mr Nicholas Nleya (83) and his mother Mrs Margaret Nleya (78) was not asked to plead when he appeared before Ms Vivian Ndlovu.

He was remanded in custody to 17 February and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
Prosecuting Mr Willbrought Muleya said Nleya allegedly committed the murder on the night of 1 September.

“The accused is the last son of the deceased couple and he believed that the two were bewitching him since childhood. The accused confronted the two deceased and other family members on several occasions seeking audience without success,” he said.

Mr Muleya said Nleya planned the murder while in South Africa where he is based.

“On 1 September the accused person entered the country and registered an Econet line using his national identity card particulars while in Bulawayo. The accused person later proceeded to the deceased’s homestead during the night armed with a machete, kitchen knife and some home-made petrol bombs,” he said

Mr Muleya said Nleya broke the couple’s bedroom window to gain entry and therefter allegedly murdered the two as his mother pleaded with him to spare their lives.

After the muder, Nleya allegedly torched the room using the homemade petrol bombs resulting in the deceased’s bodies being burnt beyond recognistion.

Remnants of the weapons used in the murder were found at the house he was lodging in Emakhandeni suburb in Bulawayo.

Part of the recovered weapons include a kitchen knife wrapped in a parcel wrapper, one machete, one home-made petrol bomb, one balaclava and the accused’s national identity document.

He used to stay at the Emakhandeni house whenever he was in the country.

Nleya who had sneaked into the country, was arrested on Sunday in Bulawayo after a tip-off from members of the public.

On Tuesday he was taken to the homestead for indications.

Shackled in leg irons and handcuffs, Nleya told detectives that his parents deserved to die because they were bewitching him.

He said he acted alone in the ruthless double-murder that shocked the country.

Nleya is said to have cut ties with his family and had not communicated with them in 15 years.

He lived in South Africa but would come to Zimbabwe to spend time in Bulawayo with friends but never set foot at the family homestead nor bothered to check on his relatives until the night of the murder. -@themkhust