Trials and tribulations of a murder witness

When Matinyanya (not his real name), on a fateful January 2004 night, while traveling to his home stumbled on the four suspects murdering a local woman, his life would never be the same again. Not that he would have a splendid life, but this was the beginning of his horror life experiences.

The suspects had taken the now suspected deceased Molly (not her real name) to a nearby bush during a strong argument in a bid not to attract attention from those whom she stayed with. While they avoided her homestead, in the bush, Matinyanya was also passing with his donkey from a faraway grinding meal when he heard a female voice crying and pleading to be forgiven at the same time mentioning the names of the suspects.

Witness to murder

With the desire to know what was taking place, Matinyanya left his donkey and tip-toed to where the noise was emanating from taking advantage of the cover of darkness. There, he saw the suspects with whom he stayed in Village Donhai, Chief Chireya, Gokwe.

The girl was crying and pleading with the suspects to set her free and the accused persons were assaulting her. Matinyanya later heard the groaning sounds and suddenly there was silence. He then knew that the girl could have either died or fallen unconscious.

Gripped with fear, Matinyanya stepped backward to escape from the scene but a twig was to sell him out. He missed his footing and stepped on a twig and the pop sound which emanated from its shattering alerted the suspects.

Having known the violent nature of these suspects, Matinyanya knew that his life was in danger and needed to save it that night. He took to his heels when he heard one of the suspects instructing others to run and catch him but his paces carried him to safety.

Though Matinyanya somehow managed to escape, the suspects had discovered his identity.

The following morning in the early hours of the day, the four suspects were at Matinyanya’s doorstep. They grabbed him and pulled him out of the house, tripped him to the ground and one of the suspects was about to strike him with an axe on the neck. Matinyanya pleaded with the suspects not to kill him. The suspects warned Matinyanya never to mention what he had seen that night.

The suspects ordered him to leave the village to an unknown destination immediately if not he risked being killed. With no time, Matinyanya relocated to Hurungwe District, and for some time he thought would rest from the suspects’ torture.

His horrors were not over yet as the daring suspects followed Matinyanya to his new location in Hurungwe and burnt down his homestead before instructing him again to move further away. Like a sheep being led to a slaughter, Matinyanya moved further away in Hurungwe. But, as he looked for a place to stay in further in Hurungwe, he had to furnish the Village Head of his ordeal to get another place to stay.

Information flowed to Sergeant Wisdom Maenzanise of Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Nembudziya while in one of their patrols and the seven-year murder was unearthed.

This is how the murder occurred:

Molly who was aged 28 years then in 2004 was one such beautiful lady, yes very beautiful, such that she was an apple of every man’s eye but it seems her beauty had with it one weakness – she could not say no to a love proposal.

Because of that weakness, all the four suspects were in love with Molly and on that fateful day they all met coincidentally at Molly’s residence each intending to have quality time with her. They had arrived one after the other at around 1900hrs and discovered their common purpose at that venue.

An argument ensued between the suspects and Molly and one of the suspects suggested that they solve the matter at a nearby bush since she was staying at her parent’s homestead and that is where it is suspected that she was stabbed by a huge knife and died at the spot by the suspects and they allegedly buried her body in the banks of Mbumbusi River.

Days multiplied into weeks, weeks mounted to months until they became years but Molly could not be found. Spiritual and traditional consultations were made but there were no leads. Even the police had their investigations exhausted.

In 2007, a skirt, which Molly was said to be wearing on the day of her disappearance, was discovered along the banks of Mbumbusi River, which is about 200-300m away from her homestead under Donhai Village, Headman Nembudziya, Chief Chreya, Gokwe. The skirt, it is said had some dried bloodstains on it but further inquiries did not yield anything until detective Sergeant Wisdom Maenzanise of CID Nembudziya stumbled upon some information as regards the murder several years after its commission.

The stumbling block

Though the skirt which the accused was wearing on the day in question was recovered after three years and is in possession of the police, it is Molly’s remains that are still to be unearthed. Several attempts have been made to no avail but there is hope – indications will yield the desired results. 

All the suspects to the murder have since been arrested from different parts of the country with the help of other police stations and are awaiting trial for the murder.

When dead man tell tales…

…a story of a Mamina seven-year-old murder case being exposed

The old adage which says dead man tell no tales might be true but when a dead man tells something or haunts someone in sleep, then they do tell tales and indeed something will have gone wrong.

More often than not, there have been reported cases where the dead do strange things as a way of making something known. Others have used dreams maybe to tell where their bodies were buried in cases where they are not known. The list is endless.

Mamina Police are investigating a case of murder that occurred seven years ago but had been investigated as a sudden death. This comes after the deceased, through dreams, continuously haunted the only witness to the murder to reveal the ordeal.

This is the story.

The lifeless body of Musekiwa (not his real name) of Masiiwa Village from Chief Benhura in Mamina was found one June morning immersed in a pool along Mahabha River. In the eyes of the villagers who saw the body, the case looked like a genuine case of drowning but to others the question was how the deceased ended up at the river after having been seen leaving for home from a drinking binge. That was a puzzle to be solved.

Yes, Musekiwa had not drowned in Mahabha River but it was a cover-up act by the suspects who wanted it to appear so.

The case was however investigated as a sudden death by Mamina Police after failing to conduct a postmortem because of the state of decomposition of the body. These were the years when the illegal sanctions were gnawing into the existence of the ZRP to an extent that there was no fuel and operational vehicles at most police precincts.

The police had taken the body to Kadoma Hospital where there was no pathologist and were advised to take the body to Bulawayo for the postmortem. Musekiwa’s relatives found this cumbersome besides it was an expensive undertaking. They, though tongue-in-cheek, advised police that they would bury their dead and there was no need to proceed with the postmortem given that the body had reached an advanced state of decomposition.

But following an anonymous letter which was sent to police, the facts of the matter leading to Musekiwa’s death have emerged.

The writer of the anonymous letter, The Outpost understands, was not the witness himself, but a confidant of the witness – Nhamo (not his real name), whose mouth was put on silent by the accused persons who have since been arrested. So persistent was the writer that he delivered the same letter twice – first at Harare Central Police and the other was smuggled into ZRP Mamina Officer-In-Charge’s Office.

“We received the letter from Harare and about the same days I found almost the same letter in my trays. The writer actually wanted to make sure the information had reached the station and when he saw no action, he decided to write another letter,” said Officer-In-Charge Mamina Inspector Roy Muviyiwa.

The predicament which Nhamo was under is another case of a witness suffering the torture of living to know the truth but only prevented by fear of death to spit it out. The continuous dreams of the deceased somehow made him confide in his intimate friend. 

On the fateful day, Musekiwa had left his homestead going for a traditional beer-drinking binge in Nyatsambo Village. Later during the same day Musekiwa, probably from taking one too many, trudged back home and on his way, he learnt that there was another beer gathering at another homestead in Muzura Village and he decided to make a stopover at this homestead. That is where his killers were imbibing.

At around 1700hrs when he felt he had had enough, Musekiwa left for his home and the four suspects followed him at a distance.

When Musekiwa had reached a bushy area, the four accused persons then caught up with him and started assaulting him.

Musekiwa shouted for help and the witness – Nhamo (not his real name) – whom they had met before the attack heard the cries for help and rushed to the scene but when he arrived at the scene, Musekiwa was already giving his last kicks.

The murderers were realised at the spot by Nhamo and having seen that their heinous act was seen, they hatched a plan. They made Nhamo part of the offence by forcing him to carry and hide the corpse in the bush before they threw it in Mahabha River where Musekiwa’s body was later retrieved. They threatened him with death if he ever revealed the case to anyone.

The murderers must have made serious threats to Nhamo as even after the Investigating Officers questioned him, he flatly denied the facts but later cooperated with the cops and revealed the information.

The Outpost also understands that Musekiwa, who was a Kraal Head is said to have been in the know of a case of infidelity involving one of the accused persons with another woman in the village who was also married. The illicit relationship had given birth to children unbeknown to the husband. The fears of the accused persons were that Musekiwa was going to spill the beans to the Chief of the area and they would be charged heavily. So the only way to avoid this was to eliminate Musekiwa.

Though their plan had ‘succeeded’, their victim was to turn in his grave and expose them. They are currently in remand prison awaiting trial. Police Mamina is awaiting authority to exhume the body for post mortem.

It’s another tale of a seven-year concealed murder coming in the open. Indeed, the dead do tell tales.