Couple in mysterious deaths

After losing someone dear, relatives and friends usually find solace in knowing the cause of death.

It is believed that knowing the cause of death at least and burying the loved one helps with the healing process.

However, for Gogo Tamari Madyirapanze (62) of Chabvuta Village in Guruve, the pain of losing her last-born son and her daughter-in-law may never heal as eight months after burying them, she is still not convinced what robbed her of her loved ones.

In mysterious incidents that left residents of Guruve shell-shocked, Philip Mubatapasango (29) and his wife Previous Sigodho (38) both died on the same day, at the same time, in a similar fashion, but in different places.

The couple died after grunting, frothing and bleeding profusely from the mouth, nose and ears — all this in less than an hour, even though they were over 10 km apart.

Medical experts who performed post-mortem on their bodies declared food poisoning as the cause of death for the two.

Medical documents seen by The Sunday Mail Extra suggests that Phillip and his wife died from “marked pulmonary oedema” due to “self-poisoning”, a result that family members and neighbours are vehemently disputing.

Toxicology results to confirm the doctor’s suspicions are yet to be released and the Attorney-General’s office has also ordered an oral inquest to the couple’s death to put the matter to rest.

But for Gogo Tamari, this is not enough as the answers provided have brought in more questions.

“Why would one of them think of death? They were young and had a promising future ahead. My son was running a small tuck shop, they were happily married. It does not make sense,” she says.

“The food they ate on the fateful day was eaten by four other people, and none of them complained, not even stomach aches. That is why I am not buying the food poisioning story.”

On the fateful day in May last year, the day began with the couple’s usual routine.

Previous did the house chores while Philip served the few customers that came for basic groceries such as matches, sugar, tea leaves and the like at their small tuck shop.

Philip and his wife were bound to leave for Guruve centre, over 10 km away, to buy stock for their business.

As Previous was preparing the first meal of the day, a family friend, Ms Sosanna Mugwada, came and asked for a ride in Philip’s scotch cart. Takudzwa, her 15-year-old granddaughter was not feeling well and therefore she needed transport to ferry her to the hospital.

Soon, Philip’s brother, Gift Madyirapanze and his son who walked in for a courtesy call.

The five had the tea and rice that had been prepared by Previous.

According to Sossana, food was dished out and each person picked a plate of his or her own choice.

“After dishing the meal, Previous did not give us the plates of food and cups of tea, rather we stood up and picked up the plates that we wanted,” she explained.

After the meal, Previous decided that she would not join her husband for the trip to Guruve centre as she felt that the ox-drawn cart would not be able to accommodate four people plus the business stock they intended to buy.

Sossana and Takudzwa got into the scotch cart while Philip led the cattle that was pulling the cart.

After leaving Sossana and her granddaughter at a local clinic, Philip proceeded with his errands and came back for them four hours later.

When he enquired what Takudzwa had eaten, he was told that she had not taken anything since she was vomiting. Philip went into a grocery store and came back with a loaf of bread. He encouraged Takudzwa to eat.

According to Sossana, on their way back, Philip’s last words were, “Sahwira handei” as he tried to get into the cart.

However, his legs were shaking and seemed too weak. He finally got in and sat on the edge, facing the opposite direction such that Sossanna could not see his face.

What Sossana did not realise was that Philip had “frozen” and that the animal driven cart was now on auto drive.

After an hour’s travelling, they met a school girl from their village. From the look on her face, Sossana could tell that something was terribly wrong.

“I could tell by the look on her face that something was very wrong. She then asked me why Philip was not blinking. When l turned him around, his eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out and his mouth was wide open.

“The moment that I laid him down in the cart, he started grunting and frothing. After some time, blood started oozing out of his mouth, nose and ears. I got confused,” Sossana recounted.

“I quickly summoned the girl to lead the cattle back home to Philip’s wife.”

Unbeknown to her, Previous was also going through the same fate.

Neighbours found Previous bleeding and frothing after being alerted by a passerby who had heard strange noises coming from the couple’s house.

“We found her face down around 3pm, frothing. After some time, she started bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears. She tried to murmur something but failed.

That was when we decided to send someone for her husband,” said Jenny Nzinzira, a neighbour.

While a village boy was on his way to find Philip, he met a wailing Sossana who broke the news that her neighbour had died.

When the boy returned to the couple’s homestead to inform the neighbours of Philip’s death, he found Previous dead.

Relatives are suspecting that the two died as a result of witchcraft.

“I have never heard of poison that kills in such a manner.

‘‘They never complained of any illness prior to their deaths and those they shared food with are still alive,” Gogo Tamari lamented.

However, some villagers who preferred anonymity said the deaths could have been caused by juju.

Some believe that one of them used “runyoka” in order to keep the other partner from cheating, a move that might have backfired for the two.

Those who believe the food poisoning theory suggested that maybe the couple consumed poisonous food the day before their demise.

Gogo Tamari remains adamant that “only the two know what happened to them and they took it to the graves”.