A 28-year-old woman has been arrested over the alleged murder of a Chinese mining manager in Odzi, in Manicaland province, after a meeting arranged through two of his employees reportedly ended in a violent robbery attempt.
The two employees who allegedly helped arrange the encounter have disappeared and are being sought by police. The woman, Remember Memory Solomon of Village 42B at Inyati Mine in Headlands, appeared before Mutare magistrate Perseverance Makala facing allegations of murdering 62-year-old He Xiaming, a manager at Quarry Mining Plant in Odzi.
Solomon was not asked to plead when she appeared in court. She was remanded in custody to September 4 for routine remand proceedings and was advised to approach the High Court for bail because murder is treated as a Third Schedule offence.
The case has brought together a chain of events involving a request for a sex worker, a payment dispute and an alleged plan to take money from a man believed to be carrying a large amount of cash. Prosecutor Tawonga Mawire told the court that He had approached two of his employees, Tatenda Makwangariwa and Kudakwashe Sibanda, on July 27 and asked them to help him find a commercial sex worker.
Makwangariwa and Sibanda allegedly contacted Solomon, who was known to Sibanda, and arranged for her to meet He. The prosecution alleges that the three then formed a common plan to rob the mining manager after assuming that he had substantial sums of money in his possession.
“On July 27, at around 10am, the now deceased, who was employed as a manager at Quarry Mining Plant in Odzi, requested his employees, Tatenda Makwangariwa and Kudakwashe Sibanda, to find a commercial sex worker for him. The two employees engaged the accused person, who was known to Sibanda, and brought her to the now deceased. In the process, the three allegedly hatched a plan to rob the deceased of money, believing that he had substantial cash in his possession,” Mawire said.
The meeting reportedly continued until later that evening, when Solomon and He had an alleged sexual encounter. The court heard that He paid her US$40 after the encounter. The State alleges that Solomon then demanded more money, saying that He had engaged in unprotected sex with her.
According to the prosecution, He handed over a further US$100 after facing pressure and threats, but Solomon remained dissatisfied. Mawire said she then worked with the two employees to demand more money from the mining manager. When He allegedly resisted, the situation turned violent.
The prosecution alleges that He was assaulted and killed after refusing to meet the trio’s further demands. His body was allegedly taken to a riverbed and abandoned, while Solomon, Makwangariwa and Sibanda fled from the area.
More than 2 weeks passed before the body was found. Mawire told the court that the remains were discovered at about 5pm on August 18 in a decomposed state. The discovery prompted a police investigation that led to Solomon’s arrest, while the 2 employees reportedly failed to return to work after He disappeared.
“On August 18, at around 5pm, the decomposed body of the deceased was discovered in a riverbed. Investigations were launched, leading to the arrest of the accused person. The two accomplices never returned to work after the deceased went missing and their whereabouts are currently unknown,” Mawire said.
A post-mortem examination recorded the cause of death as injuries to the higher nervous centre, a skull-base fracture and blunt force head trauma. The findings point to a severe assault to the head and provide investigators with important evidence as they continue to reconstruct what happened between the reported meeting and the discovery of the body.
Police are continuing with investigations and are trying to locate Makwangariwa and Sibanda. Their alleged disappearance after He went missing has become a central part of the investigation, as detectives work to establish each suspect’s movements, the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault and what happened to any money that may have been taken.
The Odzi case follows another disturbing Zimbabwean case in which a client died after a dispute linked to payment for sex. In September 2024, 6 commercial sex workers faced murder charges in connection with the alleged death of a truck driver in Chirundu. Karoi regional magistrates’ court papers in that case said the women attacked the man with broken bottles after he was unable to pay US$5, claiming that he had lost his mobile phone during the encounter.
The earlier case and the Odzi prosecution both involved disputes over small or additional payments that allegedly escalated into deadly violence, although the circumstances and number of accused people differed. In Odzi, the State says the initial US$40 payment was followed by a further US$100 after Solomon raised the issue of unprotected sex, before the alleged demands continued. In Chirundu, the dispute reportedly began when the client could not produce US$5.
For investigators in Manicaland, the most pressing task is now to trace the missing employees and establish the full sequence of events on July 27. The prosecution’s account places the alleged planning before the meeting, the payment dispute after the sexual encounter and the fatal assault after He resisted further demands. The body’s later discovery in a riverbed has also added a disposal element to the case.
Solomon remains in custody as the investigation proceeds. The State is expected to present further details as the matter returns to court on September 4, while police efforts continue to find the 2 outstanding suspects. The case has left a mining workplace without its manager and investigators searching for answers about how an arrangement made to find a sex worker ended with a missing man, a body hidden in a riverbed and 3 people linked to the alleged crime.