Suspected killer robbers go insane

HIGH Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi has committed two men suspected of the 2019 murder of a sheriff of the High Court and a motorist to a psychiatric unit for mental observation.

Day Kaseke and Misheck Neshamba were part of a gang of six who posed as commuters and robbed the sheriff, Kelvin Karasa, before killing him.

The gang attacked a motorist, Brian Kadenge, who had offered them transport from Norton to Harare, in a similar way.

Neshamba and Kaseke now suffer from a mental illness that has also affected their accomplices Francis Alimoso and Kingswell Ngwerume.

Alimoso and Ngwerume are already psychiatric patients at Chikurubi Maximum Prison. The remaining two suspects John Robin and Gift Jongwe both died mysteriously in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

In his ruling, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi ordered charges against Kaseke and Neshamba be withdrawn, while confirming their commitment to a psychiatric unit for observation.

Justice Mutevedzi acted on an application by the National Prosecution Authority to withdraw charges against the two owing to their mental condition.

The State had it that sometime in September 2019, Kaseke, Neshamba, Alimoso, Ngwerume, Robin and Jongwe posed as commuters looking for transport at Muza Shopping Centre.

The six were offered transport by Karasa, who was driving a Government vehicle to Ruwa.

When they got to Mara

Farm in Epworth, one of the suspects grabbed Karasa by the throat, pushed him away from the driver’s seat and tied his legs and hands. The gang robbed Karasa of US$82, a satchel with court documents and a cellphone. They also demanded his EcoCash PIN.

Allegations are that Alimoso later dragged Karasa for about 50 metres into a bushy area, blindfolded him and struck him on the head, and left him for dead tied to a tree.

The Government vehicle was found dumped in the central business (CBD) district the following day. Under the same pretence, the gang also pounced on Kadenge, who had offered them transport to Harare from Norton.

Kadenge was reportedly attacked at the Lake Chivero turn-off, where he was robbed of his cellphone and cash.

The gang stoned Kadenge to death and dumped his body in a busy area.

The State further alleges the gang used Kadenge’s car as a taxi and picked up four passengers in the CBD and robbed them of cellphones and cash.

The car was later found dumped at Mbizi Game Park. — H-Metro

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Body ‘talks’ at mortuary

From spending nine days dumped outside a house at the Muchechetere homestead in Zhombe East, the remains of Munyaradzi Dube (31), who was allegedly murdered for ritual purposes, are now reportedly “making funny noises” at the Kwekwe District Hospital mortuary.

Munyaradzi — a Gokwe-based artisanal miner who was allegedly murdered at Zhombe Business Centre, popularly known as Kwa-Juwere under Chief Samambwa in Zhombe East, before his body was dumped in a mine shaft — is allegedly “refusing to be buried”.

He is said to be “demanding” his missing body parts back.

His body — which was found with a missing tongue, a left eye and some hair from the back of the head — is now being kept at the Kwekwe District Hospital mortuary, where it was taken by the police from Muchechetere homestead, where his family had dumped it.

At his homestead in Vhurumu village, under Chief Njelele in Gokwe South, his family had dug a grave, preparing for his burial.

The burial has been postponed as the Muchechetere and the Dube families are still to find each other.

Chief Njelele recently said he received a phone call from the police, who had asked him to arrange a meeting between the Muchechetere and the Dube families.

He said there were reports that Munyaradzi was making some mysterious sounds at the Kwekwe District Hospital mortuary.

“I was called by the police who are saying we must solve this matter as soon as possible by engaging the two families. We are meeting at Empress Mine turn-off shops for dialogue,” said Chief Njelele.

“The police are saying they understand that some issues need to be solved using traditional methods. So, Chief Samambwa will also be there.”

Munyaradzi’s uncle, Mr David Dube, told reporters that his nephew is “fighting his own war”.

Mr Dube chronicled events that led to Munyaradzi’s death at the hands of alleged artisanal miners in a suspected ritual killing.

According to Mr Dube, the deceased is from Chidoma, under Chief Njelele, and was an artisanal miner. He was allegedly murdered some weeks ago in Zhombe.

Mr Dube said, after the alleged murder, his body was thrown into a disused mine shaft.

“He was murdered in Zhombe, where he was doing artisanal mining by two artisanal miners from Zhombe. Police recovered his body from a disused mine and took it to hospital for postmortem,” he said.

“It was discovered that his tongue was missing, including his left eye and some hair at the back of the head.”

Mr Dube said after the post-mortem, the deceased’s friend allegedly went into a trance and started behaving like Munyaradzi as they were taking the remains to Gokwe for burial.

“As we were heading to Gokwe for burial, Munyaradzi’s friend got into a trance and started behaving like Munyaradzi.

He was forbidding us from taking his remains to Gokwe for burial without his missing body parts,” he said.

Mr Dube said the family then fled their home before they went to the Zhombe Police Station to make a report.

He said Munyaradzi, through his friend, also demanded they tie a live animal and put it in water in a disused mine shaft as part of the rituals. “Unfortunately, we could not do this ritual because the Muchechetere family refused to entertain us; they ran away and we were left with no option but to dump the body at their homestead,” said Mr Dube.

After Munyaradzi’s friend went to his home area, he said the Muchechetere family tried to move the coffin from their homestead.

“A voice was then heard coming from the coffin, saying he was at the right place and wanted some rituals to be done so that his assailants would confess on their own. My nephew was born in 1992 and, unfortunately, his mother died after his birth,” said Mr Dube.

“We also did not meet his father. The voice said his remains had been cut and taken to a nightclub, a butchery, a mining claim and a grinding mill at the Zhombe Business Centre.

“The voice said once the water from the shaft, where his body was dumped, had been collected and sprinkled at the shops, the people behind his murder would confess on their own.”

Mr Dube said they were still shocked and now waiting for the police to conduct their investigations.

Tatenda Muchechetere, one of the artisanal miners accused of being behind the murder of Munyaradzi, said he was innocent.

Mr Dana Muchechetere, an uncle of Tatenda, said they were willing to engage the Dube family to resolve the matter.

“They came and dumped the body when there was no one at home. We feel we are being falsely accused and we are willing to consult prophets and traditional healers together with Munyaradzi’s family to get to the bottom of this,” he said.

Chief Samambwa said the community is still in shock.

“The young man was murdered and we are not sure of who killed him. What we gathered is that his family is from the Chief Njelele area in Gokwe,” he said.

“His family went and dumped his coffin at a homestead here in Zhombe. They are alleging that they were directed to the homestead by a voice coming from the grave.”

Chief Samambwa said the coffin was at the Muchechetere homestead for nine days before police removed it and took it to the Kwekwe District Hospital mortuary.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the matter.

“I can confirm that there is a murder case that happened in Zhombe involving some alleged artisanal miner. Our officers went there and removed the body from a homestead in Zhombe and took it to the Kwekwe District Hospital mortuary and investigations are underway,” he said.

Munyaradzi’s burial was postponed indefinitely and a post-mortem had not yet been conducted a month after his burial. —