adminA Hurungwe man has been arrested for allegedly murdering his nine-year-old son and burying the body in a cave to conceal the murder.
Tawanda Zibowa (32), who allegedly committed the murder last August, was arrested on Monday last week following a tip-off. He appeared before Karoi resident magistrate Mr Sam Chitumwa who remanded him in custody to June 26 this year. Court records indicate that prior to the murder, Zibowa was angry after finding his son, Richard, loitering at Deve Township.
He accused the boy of taking alcohol and force-marched him home, allegedly assaulting him with sticks along the way. It is believed Richard collapsed and died due to the assault, prompting his father to hide the body in a bush and flee.
On the following day, Zibowa allegedly returned to the scene and stuffed the corpse in a sack. He then, it is also alleged, shoved the sack into a cave next to a river and sealed the entrance with boulders. Three days later, he is alleged to have visited the cave where he plastered the boulders with mud in a bid to suppress the pungent ordour emanating from the corpse.
It is further alleged that Zibowa, who had divorced Richard’s mother and taken a new wife, went to the site regularly and would tell neighbours that the nine-year-old had visited his maternal grandparents.
Police recovered the boy’s remains with Zibowa’s co-operation.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter