MAPUTO, The Maputo City Court has sentenced businessman Zofimo Muiuane to 24 years imprisonment for the first degree murder of his wife, Valentina Guebuza, daughter of former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, on Dec 14, 2016.
The court also ordered him to pay 50 million meticais (about 840,000 US dollars) in compensation to the Guebuza family.
Judge Flavia Mondlane also declared that the court found Muiuane guilty of two other crimes and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment for the illegal possession of firearms, and eight years for the falsification of an official document. However, the prison sentences will be served concurrently since, under normal circumstances, 24 years is the maximum prison term under Mozambican law.
The forged document relate to a South African passport found in Muiuane’s possession, in the name of Washington Dube, but bearing Muiuane’s photograph.
The court rejected Muiuane’s claim that Valentina Guebuza shot herself accidentally. His defence was that, in a bitter argument between them, Valentina pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. He then supposedly tried to disarm her, and in the struggle she pulled the trigger and shot herself.
This account failed to explain how Valentina was shot twice, and was contradicted by the forensic and ballistics evidence, which showed that the gun could not have been fired at point blank range. Muiuane’s story also completely different from the one he told the police shortly after his arrest.
Muiuane’s lawer, Amadeu Uqueio, announced that his client will appeal the verdict and sentence. The defence insists that the shooting was accidental, and that the evidence to the contrary is flawed.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK