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UK: Zim man jailed 20 years for killing girlfriend in jealous rage; stabbed her in front of members of the public

By ITV News

UNITED KINGDOM: A man has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years and 10 months for murdering his partner in Gloucester after falsely accusing her of cheating on him.
Tanaka Zivanai, 32, repeatedly stabbed care worker Zanele Sibanda, 28, on the street near her flat on the early hours of Tuesday 27 August 2024.
Police were called to the junction of Paul Street and Tarrington Road in Tredworth at around 1.45am to reports of that a man had attacked a woman.
Despite the efforts of the emergency services, Ms Sibanda was declared dead at the scene.
Zivanai was arrested and later pleaded guilty to her murder and to possessing a blade in a public place at Bristol Crown Court on 27 November.
An argument in the street that ended in brutal – and fatal – violence
The court heard Zivanai killed Ms Sibanda after an argument which had began the previous evening, in which he had accused her of cheating.
Robin Shellard, prosecuting, said: “Tanaka Zivanai murdered his partner, Zanele Sibanda, on the streets of Gloucester in front of a number of members of public after showing signs of jealousy, accusing her of infidelity and to be arguing with her.
“He brutally assaulted her with a knife he had brought with him from his home, leaving her with multiple stab wounds, which caused her to die at the scene of the assault.”
The court heard how Zimbabwe-born Zivanai and Ms Sibanda, who was from South Africa, had arrived separately in the UK in 2023 and began a relationship after getting jobs as care workers.
They moved into a flat together in Tredworth, where neighbours would frequently hear a man shouting and a woman crying.
On one occasion the mother-of-two was visiting a friend when the defendant phoned her and shouted: “I’ll kill you if you come here, don’t come back to this house. Stay wherever the f*** you are. You come back, I’ll kill you.”
On the evening of the murder, neighbours heard shouting and swearing and saw a man and woman in the street.
A short time later they heard a woman screaming and saw a man kneeling on the floor with a woman in his lap, with him saying: “Wake up, get up, get up.”
“Another neighbour called the police as he had seen the man with his hand over the woman’s mouth and then stabbed her,” Mr Shellard said.
“He said how he had seen the defendant stab the woman repeatedly.
“His brother also saw the attack and had heard an argument about a visa and the woman saying how she was going to make him go back home.”
A post-mortem found Ms Sibanda had died from stab wounds to her head, throat, body and arms.
He was handed a life sentence at the same court on 23 January 2025.
John Burton KC, defending, said Zivanai feels “genuine remorse”.
Mr Burton said: “There’s a deep seated grief which almost appeared at the very start, even though he was the cause of this death.
“Mr Zivanai clearly lost complete control of himself, not in the legal sense, but he completely lost control of himself in a literal sense and caused this young lady’s death.”
Judge William Hart jailed Zivanai for life and told him he would serve a minimum of 20 years and 10 months’ imprisonment before he could be considered for parole.
“You were angry and aggressive, and she was cowed by your behaviour,” the judge said.
“You appear to have become convinced that she was in some form of relationship, perhaps an affair, with another man.
“That was, as far as the evidence indicates, a wholly groundless suspicion and that form of jealousy appears to have been a feature of much of your relationship.
“You attacked Ms Sibanda with a knife which you had brought with you to that location from your home.
“The circumstances of this poor young woman’s killing were horrific.”
Speaking after the verdict, Nonoe Nonkanyiso Tshuma, Ms Sibanda’s sister, said she felt justice had not been done as Zivanai’s sentence “won’t bring Zanele back”.
She said: “I’m coming here to the UK, of which I thought I would come here by an invitation, Zanele graduating or something. But unfortunately, Zivanai took my sister’s life within a year.
“It’s fortunate for him because my sister invited him to the UK, funded his lifestyle but here I am. I don’t have a sister. To make matters worse, the family [of Zivanai] hasn’t come, I didn’t even see them in court, they didn’t even apologise. Tanaka isn’t even showing any signs of remorse.”
Speaking of Ms Sibanda’s children, Ms Tshuma added: “It so heartbreaking, it’s a hard pill to swallow really.”
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Usher, from Avon and Somerset Police said: “Tanaka Zivanai is an extremely controlling and dangerous individual who committed a brutal and horrific attack on his girlfriend, Zanele Sibanda, on the street.
“We suspect Zivanai had his status in the UK threatened, which led him to carry out this savage and premeditated act of extreme violence. It took place in front of a number of witnesses, and the impact it is had on them and the wider community has been significant.
“Zanele’s murder has also had a devastating impact on her family and has left has two young children, aged two and nine, without a mother after Zanele was so cruelly taken away with them. My thoughts remain with all of Zanele’s family at this time.”