A 41-year-old man appeared in court on Tuesday facing attempted murder charges after he allegedly butchered a woman with a machete.

Faceofmalawi established from state media that 41-year-old Julius Chale of Epworth, Harare attacked his fellow tenant Tapiwa Murumani with a machete.

Chale told Harare magistrate Mrs. Judith Taruvinga that he attacked the woman in a bid to enforce Covid-19 social distancing rules.

Admitting to assaulting  Marumani with a machete, Chale said:

“There was a lot of people at the place and I wanted them to practice social distancing.”

Prosecutors Mrs. Shambadzeni Fungura and Mr. Lancelot Mutsokoti told the court that on the 9th of February this year, Chale barged into Marumani’s quarters looking for his wife.

According to the prosecutors, Chale had an altercation with his wife and thought she was hiding in Murumani’s room.

A heated argument between the two ensued, Chale lost his cool and butchered Murumani on the stomach, right hand, and finger with a machete.

Murumani reported the incident to the police who arrested and charged him with attempted murder charges.

In a separate incident, a man was arrested on allegations of assaulting police officers.

According to reports, Roy Kadiki appeared in court facing charges of defeating the course of justice.

Kadiki is alleged to have helped his friend Tinashe Mutemeri – a drug dealer, to escape from police custody

It is the state’s case that on January 19 police detectives arrested Mutemeri at No.2 Mukumbadzetse Road in Mufakose after discovering plastic bags containing marijuana at his house.

Kadiki and a group of friends then attacked the police officers, freed Mutemeri who was in handcuffs, repossessed the marijuana, and drove off in Kadiki’s Nissan March.