A jealous husband murdered his wife with an Axe

body still strapped in the front seat of their car is jailed for life

• Norbert Chikerema hit Nyasha Kahari at least 30 times with numerous weapons
• Care home boss also struck her with an axe and drove her body to a Lidl car park
• He thought she was having an affair and hired a private detective to follow her
• Chikerema, 42, was convicted of his wife’s murder and has been jailed for life

A jealous husband who murdered his wife with an axe after convincing himself she was having an affair has been jailed for life.

Norbert Chikerema was found sitting in his parked car next to the body of his brutally murdered wife, on a Lidl supermarket car-park in Tile Cross, Birmingham, on January 30, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Mother-of-four Nyasha Kahari, 35, had suffered catastrophic head injuries, with 30 separate wounds to her head and neck, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 42-year-old apologised to his children for killing their mother and asked them to visit him in prison.

Norbert Chikerema (first on the left) bludgeoned his wife and mother-of-four Nyasha Kahari (right) to death after convincing himself she had been having an affair. He has been jailed for life

Officers also discovered a blood-stained axe in the Nissan Qashqai and arrested him.

Chikerema, of Quinton, Birmingham, denied wrongdoing but was found guilty of murdering Ms Kahari – known as Gillian – at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison.

The court had previously heard how on January 29 this year the couple visited a number of addresses, leaving the last one at 11 pm and shortly afterwards the defendant attacked his wife.

Ms Kahari had been sitting in the front seat of their Nissan and he used an axe to strike her over and over again aiming principally at the head and neck.

She was strapped in her seat and was ‘effectively defenceless,’ prosecutors said.

Chikerema had initially driven to the family home, covered his wife a blanket and had changed his bloodstained clothes.

He had previously employed a private detective to follow his wife and during the course of that morning had sent a video to a number of family friends of her meeting another man who he knew.

He attacked cars of two men he believed had been seeing his wife with the axe before eventually driving to a Lidl supermarket in Mackadown Lane and phoned police at around 4 am.

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The Lidl park where Norbert Chikerema drove his wife’s body too, after bludgeoning her to death and strapping her into a car seat

Chikerema had denied murder and it was claimed he was suffering from an abnormality of mind function at the time.

Stephen Davies, District Crown Prosecutor with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Unable to cope with his belief that his wife was having an extramarital affair, Norbert Chikerema armed himself with an axe, took his wife to an unknown location and launched a frenzied and fatal attack on her.

‘This was a premeditated killing where the defendant had taken weapons with him to the scene and used them to commit the crime.

‘Our thoughts are today with the family and friends of Nyasha Kahari.’

A tribute released on behalf of Ms Kahari’s family read: ‘Gillian was a decent, loving mother of four children, two boys and two girls. She was a caring and hard-working woman who always strived to keep her family happy.

‘Gillian will be missed by her family and all those who knew her.’