Slain police detective’s family give police seven-day ultimatum to explain how she died in shootout

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THE family of slain police detective Cassandra Hove, who was fatally shot in a shoot-out while pursuing armed robbers in Bulawayo, is demanding an explanation on what transpired on the fateful day.

The 38-year-old police officer was initially said to have been shot by an armed robber before the script was changed to say she was killed by friendly fire. A colleague has since confessed to ‘accidentally’ shooting her, and has appeared in court.

Hove’s family engaged the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), who confirmed they are helping the bereaved family get justice for their slain daughter.

“We are assisting the family of Detective Constable Cassandra Hove, a slain ZRP officer, who died recently while reportedly pursuing armed robbers, which is protesting against the clandestine and unprofessional manner in which the death of the police officer is being handled,” the ZLHR posted on social media.

Cassandra’s father, Chikauriso Hove, has engaged the services of lawyers from ZLHR, who on Wednesday wrote a letter of complaint to the Officer-In-Charge at ZRP Bulawayo Central Police and gave the law enforcement agency a seven-day ultimatum to furnish him with tangible details of circumstances, which caused and led to the death of his daughter.

The letter was also served to the Officer-In-Charge at Pumula Police Station, the Officer Commanding Bulawayo Province, ZRP Commissioner-General Stephen Mutamba and Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe.

In the letter, Hove protested the unprofessional manner in which ZRP handled the death of his daughter.

“Hove said he is aggrieved and pained by the conduct of ZRP, her deceased daughter’s employer, that she served diligently and dearly with her life, which had a duty to protect her, but was not forthcoming with sharing information to the family surrounding the circumstances which led to Cassandra’s death, which should help the grieving family to find closure,” the lawyers said.

The family, Hove said, is disturbed by the fact that family members seem to be getting second-hand information and late updates on Cassandra’s matter through unofficial channels and just recently, it came to their attention that a certain police officer had confessed to killing their daughter.

Hove said Cassandra’s family is greatly concerned about the allegations that she may have met her fate at the hands of one of her colleagues.

In addition, Hove said Cassandra’s family is alarmed at the allegations raised about the conduct of one Lethokuhle Sibanda, who later on was known to be a colleague of the deceased law enforcement agent operating in the same unit with the late police officer, and who had reportedly completed some forms authorising the carrying out of a post-mortem on the body of the deceased person without consulting his family.

Hove also stated that his family had been advised that sometime after Cassandra had been shot, the same Sibanda had visited the deceased person’s residence, where she found the late law enforcement agent’s children and demanded certain information pertaining to her residential properties and demanded her mobile phones, but her children refused to comply after getting guidance from their relatives.

Cassandra’s father also complained that Sibanda had received R3,000 from the residents of Luveve suburb in Bulawayo as contribution to the deceased law enforcement agent’s funeral, but the money was never remitted to the family, conduct which the family is concerned about.

Hove added that his family had also received information that a suspect, named Fikile Ncube, had been arrested by ZRP officers on the night when Cassandra died in connection with her death, but this information was not officially communicated to the family or his relatives.

On 8 March 2025, Hove said he attended a meeting together with his relatives with the Officer-In-Charge of CID Homicide in Bulawayo and other ZRP officials, where he was informed that the preliminary findings were that his daughter had been shot by a police issued firearm contrary to what the family had been told before and efforts to get full information as to what could have happened to his daughter were futile as the ZRP officials were not forthcoming.

Hove said Cassandra’s family had, after much deliberation, reluctantly agreed to take her body for burial in Mberengwa, with the hope that ZRP would keep updating them on the progress of investigations surrounding her death.

After Cassandra’s burial, Hove said, the family reported a case of murder at ZRP Pumula Police Station on March 13, 2025, and police went mum.