Three years after one of Zimbabwe's most dramatic v!ol£nc£ crime episodes, former police detective Jaison Muvevi stood before the High Court of Zimbabwe in Harare on Monday as his m¤rd£r trial opened on a continuous roll scheduled to run through to Friday, March 20.

Muvevi, 42, a former Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officer from Ruzane Village in Hwedza District, Mashonaland East province, faces four counts of m¤rd£r and four counts of attempted m¤rd£r arising from a sh00t¡ng spree that cut across Harare, Hwedza and Mutare between November 2022 and January 2023. The case gripped the country not only because of its brutality but because the alleged perpetrator was a trained law enforcement officer who had turned his weapon on the very colleagues he once served alongside.

A three-year road to trial

The path to the courtroom has been long. Muvevi was arrested in Mozambique on January 15, 2023, two days after the Hwedza sh00t¡ngs, after allegedly crossing the border on foot and hiring a motorcycle to take him to Chimoio.

He was extradited to Zimbabwe and charged, but proceedings stalled when his lawyer, Blessed Matandira, told the court that his client was incoherent and showing signs of mental illness, prompting the court to order a psychiatric evaluation.

Muvevi was subsequently committed to Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit in Harare, where he remained for more than two years. In December 2025, Magistrate Ruth Moyo confirmed that two State-appointed psychiatrists had completed a fresh evaluation and found him mentally fit to stand trial.

The High Court then scheduled proceedings for this week, from March 16 to March 20, 2026.

The k!llings prosecutors say occurred

According to court documents, the alleged k!lling spree began on November 19, 2022, in Eastlea, Harare.

Prosecutors say Muvevi approached 33-year-old Nyarai Round, who was standing with a man named Nyasha Eusen outside Clan Court, and sh0t Round once in the head without apparent reason. Eusen attempted to flee but was briefly detained before managing to escape. Round was pronounced d£ad at the scene.

Nearly two months later, on January 13, 2023, the alleged v!ol£nc£ resumed in Hwedza.

Court papers state that Muvevi drove to a Johanne Masowe yeChishanu Apostolic Church shrine where his mother, Shupikai Muvevi, was attending a gathering. An argument reportedly broke out between Muvevi and the shrine's leader, Chrispen Kanerusine, 62.

Prosecutors allege Muvevi returned to his vehicle, retrieved an FN Browning pistol and sh0t Kanerusine once in the head. Kanerusine d£ad at the scene.

Police at Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Hwedza were alerted. A response team led by Inspector Maxwell Hove, 43, the officer in charge of Hwedza Police Station, intercepted Muvevi's vehicle on the Hwedza–Murambinda Road near the 25 kilometre peg.

According to the State, Muvevi stepped out of his vehicle and opened fire while advancing toward the police truck. Inspector Hove, who was unarmed and seated in the front passenger seat, was sh0t three times in the head and d£ad at the scene.

Detective Constable Tendai Mugova, who had taken cover under the police truck and was armed with a CZ pistol, was also sh0t three times in the left hip, stomach and right shoulder. Mugova survived.

Prosecutors say Muvevi then disarmed the officers of their firearms, returned to his vehicle and drove toward Goto.

Later the same day, at Mukamba Business Centre in Hwedza, prosecutors say Muvevi encountered 27-year-old Munashe Majani, a barman at Ruzema Bottle Store, and sh0t him d£ad for reasons that remain unclear.

A fourth attempted m¤rd£r charge relates to Raphael Nyahwema at Mutare Boys High School, where Muvevi allegedly appeared while attempting to flee, claiming he was in the area to deal with baboons causing problems. Muvevi allegedly fired a sh0t that narrowly missed Nyahwema before continuing toward the Mozambique border.

The fugitive and the arrest

A nationwide manhunt followed the Hwedza k!llings.

Police tracked Muvevi through Rusape, where he abandoned his vehicle, and later to Mutare, where witnesses reported seeing him purchase a new work suit.

He crossed into Mozambique on foot at night before being apprehended in Chimoio on January 15, 2023, reportedly after the motorcyclist he had hired alerted authorities.

Zimbabwean detectives initially travelled to Mozambique to retrieve him, but Mozambican authorities first indicated they would prosecute him locally for illegal firearm possession before ultimately facilitating his return to Zimbabwe to face the more serious charges.

Further investigations by the CID following Muvevi's arrest also linked him to other unsolved sh00t¡ng cases in Harare where victims had been found d£ad with gunshot wounds in areas Muvevi was known to frequent.

His FN Browning pistol was sent to the CID ballistics laboratory for forensic analysis. The full scope of those investigations has not been made public.

What the trial will determine

The Harare High Court will hear the State's case across eight charges: four m¤rd£r counts and four attempted m¤rd£r counts.

A conviction on any single m¤rd£r charge under Zimbabwean law carries the possibility of the death sentence or life imprisonment depending on mitigating circumstances presented before the court.

The case also raises questions beyond the charges themselves. The alleged perpetrator was a trained police officer, and the trial is expected to examine what may have motivated the attacks, whether the incidents were connected, and whether warning signs existed before the alleged breakdown in late 2022.

Those questions will now be tested before the High Court.

Muvevi has been in custody since January 2023 and has not yet entered a plea.

Additional reporting sourced from ZimLive, NewZimbabwe and AllAfrica. The Granite Post has independently verified key details.