Family fights police over a�?murdered sona��

A BULAWAYO family from Emakhandeni suburb is up in arms with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)a��s Esigodini station officers.

They accuse the police of dragging their feet in investigating the murder of Trymore Xolani Bhebhe (23).

According to the family, Trymore died mysteriously after what seemed like torture.

a�?I was in Harare when I received a phone call from the police that Xolani had died in Esigodini. My wife went there and I also left Harare to join her.

a�?When we arrived, we noticed that he had been severely assaulted as he had scratches and cuts all over his body. A police officer named Necodimus Chanetsa insisted that our son had died from natural causes,a�? said Dumisani Bhebhe.

The family then allegedly applied for a post-mortem but the police gave excuses.

a�?We argued with them until they told us that there was no transport to ferry the corpse to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), for the post-mortem. We offered to do it ourselves in my car and take him to Bulawayo,a�? said Bhebhe adding that he felt the police were hiding something.

The post-mortem confirmed the familya��s fears.

a�?When it was almost end of day we were told that my son had been beaten and that his skull was broken in the process leading to inside bleeding which led to his sudden death,a�? said Bhebhe.

Thereafter, Bhebhe pressed for justice to be served but he is unhappy with progress so far.

a�?The police havena��t done anything. They told us they had suspects but that was it! Now when we called Chanetsa (investigating officer) he said he was on leave and referred us to another police officer who does not answer his phone,a�? said a frustrated Bhebhe.

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele said he was unaware of what transpired between the family and their office but everything was under investigation.

a�?I am not aware that the family was not pleased with our service but I would like to encourage anyone who is not pleased with police service to come forward and talk to us so as to deal with the issue amicably,a�? he said.