adminFairness Moyana Hwange Correspondent
A FORMER police officer was found dead on Saturday night in a disused telephone booth while still clutching onto a bottle of beer he was earlier seen drinking. Andrew Ncube, 45, who was nicknamed Scud as a result of his binge-drinking was found naked in an old telephone booth behind TM supermarket surrounded by empty cans of beer and a bottle of whisky in a suspected case of alcohol poisoning.
Binge drinking is the practice of consuming large quantities of alcohol in a single session, usually defined as five or more drinks at one time.
Matabeleland North provincial spokesperson Inspector Siphiwe Makonese said Ncube was found by a passerby.
“I can confirm that on July 18 at around 4:30PM, Onias Ngwenya was on his way home along a footpath behind TM storeroom when he saw the now deceased Andrew Ncube lying naked inside a disused call box.
“He was lying facing upwards surrounded by empty cans of Black Label and pure can spirit,” said Insp Makonese.
She said the body had no visible marks or injuries and the scene where he was found had no signs that he could have struggled with anyone before his death.
Ncube, who was known for his bouts of excessive alcohol consumption which is alleged to have cost him his job as a policeman and subsequently earned him the nickname ‘Scud’, was employed as a security guard at the time of his death.
Research has shown that binge drinking may soak drinkers’ brains in enough alcohol to affect mechanisms that control breathing, heart rate and body temperature and sometimes causes death.
Signs of alcohol poisoning include slow or irregular breathing, seizures, hypothermia, vomiting and an inability to wake up.
Excessive beer drinking also leaves one vulnerable to sexual assault or other acts of violence, and increase the risk of unprotected or unintended sex.
Online Reporter