HARARE – A 33-year-old Guruve man accused of unleashing a reign of terror across Mashonaland Central has been hauled before the courts and remanded in custody from his hospital bed, as chilling details of the alleged crimes were laid bare. Anymore Zvitsva, of Vheremu village under Chief Chipuriro in Guruve, was arrested on January 3 following a protracted manhunt that ended in mountainous terrain where police say he had been hiding to evade capture. He now faces 12 murder charges and multiple counts of rape and attempted murder allegedly committed between April 2024 and December 2025 in Guruve and Mvurwi.
According to an affidavit filed by Detective Assistant Inspector Peter Gwavuya of the CID Homicide Unit, Zvitsva is linked to a string of exceptionally brutal attacks, with victims targeted in their homes, fields and grazing areas, often under the cover of darkness. Police allege he used snare wire, knives, machetes, spears and poison to carry out the attacks. Items recovered at the time of his arrest include snare wire believed to have been used to strangle victims, a plastic container with suspected poison, a spear bearing suspected blood stains, and a solar panel allegedly stolen from one of the deceased.
Zvitsva is charged with murder under Section 47, rape under Section 65, and attempted murder under Section 189 read with Section 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act. Among the allegations is that on March 6, 2025, Zvitsva attacked Jane Dube at her Rangwani village homestead after demanding money. When she fled with her three-year-old child, he allegedly chased her into a maize field and repeatedly assaulted her with an iron rod, leaving her dead before fleeing.
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In another case dating back to April 2024, the accused allegedly ambushed a woman herding cattle in Nyakapupu, dragged her into a gum plantation, raped her at knifepoint, strangled her with wire and hanged her from a tree. Her body was discovered the following morning after a village search. Police further allege that several women were attacked while carrying out routine chores such as herding cattle or walking to gardens.
In October 2025, one woman was allegedly threatened with a machete before being strangled with wire, her body later found in the open. Some of the most harrowing allegations involve night-time home invasions. In late November 2025, Zvitsva is accused of forcing his way into a two-roomed house in Nyakapupu and strangling three women to death in their beds using snare wire.
Days later, at Zimuna village, he allegedly entered a one-roomed house and killed three occupants in the same manner before abducting a fourth victim. Police say he raped her, killed her as she tried to escape, and buried her body in the Nyakapupu mountain range. Police were put on his tail on December 11, 2025, after Zvitsva allegedly stabbed five of his relatives to death at an Ona Farm after breaking into two sleeping quarters armed with a knife and spear.
The accused also faces multiple rape charges, including allegations that he tied one complainant with shoelaces, raped her twice in the mountains and fled after being spotted by a villager, leaving behind stolen property later recovered by police. Attempted murder charges stem from attacks in which victims survived, including a November 2025 incident where a woman fought off an attempt to strangle her with wire while her son was stabbed multiple times in a nearby room, and another where a shopkeeper was choked unconscious during a robbery.
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