Fugitive businessman Peter Dube, wanted for multiple charges including murder and immigration violations, has been apprehended in Ireland.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police obtained an international arrest warrant, and Dube now faces extradition. After allegedly committing the murders, he fled to South Africa, assumed a new identity, and eventually ended up in Ireland. An investigation by the Irish police, known as An Garda Síochána, followed a newspaper article exposing Dube’s use of a false name to obtain asylum. Dube has appeared in court in Ireland.
“A male in his late 30s was arrested on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, for alleged offences, contrary to the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act of 2001. The male has appeared before the district court and is currently remanded in custody. As the male is currently before the court, An Garda Síochána has no further comment at this time.”
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has since initiated legal proceedings to extradite the suspect.
NPA head of the international co-operation and anti-terrorism unit Mr Clement Chimbare yesterday confirmed that a provisional arrest warrant had been issued against Dube. ZRP is now expected to transmit the warrant to Ireland’s law-enforcement authorities through the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).
Dube had been placed on Interpol’s Red Notice, a request to law-enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition. Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said police were waiting for the extradition process to take place.
It is alleged that on April 23, 2021, Dube, who was a car dealer, approached his second wife, Nyasha Nharingo, and her suspected lover Shelton Chinhango — also a car dealer — who was seated in a minibus parked outside a flat in Gweru’s central business district, where she lived. He fatally shot Chinhango at close range and turned the gun on his second wife’s best friend, Gamuchirai Mudungwe, whom he shot in the chest. She died instantly.
He went on to shoot Nyasha and her sister Nyaradzo.
The two sisters were rushed to hospital, where Nyaradzo died on admission. It is believed Dube and Nyasha had a long-standing dispute, with the former convinced that she was involved in an adulterous affair.
Earlier investigations by our Bureau indicated that five months after the shootings, Dube allegedly changed his identity and acquired a passport (A09465267) in Eswatini on October 28, 2021. He later used the passport to move to Ireland, where he applied for asylum, before being accommodated at Red Cow Moran Hotel in Dublin. The fugitive also later assisted his wife, Nomatter Chawana, and children to acquire new identities. His luck, however, ran out on Wednesday last week, when he was taken into custody by police.