adminAbel Zhakata Senior Reporter
A ZIMUNYA man has confessed to gruesomely killing a seven-year-old boy from the village, implicating three other accomplices who apparently were working at the behest of a local businessman who offered $5 000 for the human body parts.
Jonathan Makuwaza told a packed traditional court presided over by Acting Chief Zimunya on Wednesday that he teamed up with Lovemore Magwaza, Mai Eggy Naiti and one fugitive Nonodzai to murder the hapless Langton Musere whose body parts were allegedly sold to a youthful businessman (name supplied) at Mpudzi.
As soon as he finished his confession, detectives from the homicide department at Mutare Central Police Station swooped on him and the other suspects who were also in attendance at the court.
A manhunt has since been launched for Nonodzai and Mai Naiti who were nowhere to be found.
The suspects were taken to the crime scene for indications.
More than 600 people who attended the court were left stunned after Makuwaza gave a gory account of how they waylaid the boy who was on his way to school, took him to a nearby mountain and strangled him before mutilating his corpse.
The Grade One pupil tried to fight for dear life, but he was allegedly struck with a stone on the head by Nonodzai.
“We were a syndicate of four people, three men and a woman. I was approached by Nonodzai who said there was a dealer who was looking for human body parts. He said the parts were needed urgently and we had to act fast. There was also Mugwazo and Mai Naiti. We then went to Chatora Village and on the fateful day we found many children who were going to school. When we were looking for who to pounce on, we saw Langton sitting on the ground trying to fix his torn bag.
“We approached him and instructed him to stand up and follow us. He took his time, but Nonodzai grabbed the boy and we dragged him up Mushume mountain. We were armed with a plastic, a knife and a razor. We strangled the boy, but Nonodzai killed the boy by hitting him with a stone on the head. He was supposed not to bleed. Those were the orders”
After killing him, they cut off body parts using the razor. The mouth, ears, buttocks, private parts, heart, tongue, hair and some fingers were removed.
“We placed them in a 2kg plastic bag which was filled to the brim and we put the remaining parts in another plastic bag. These body parts were handed over to Mai Naiti who was supposed to sell them to the businessman. We were promised $5 000 payment as soon as the businessman got his order. We disembarked from the mountain. The following day people started looking for the boy and that night Nonodzai went up the mountain and took the corpse which he subsequently placed along Murere River banks so that people would quickly identify him,” he said.
Chief Zimunya did not give the implicated suspects time to respond to the confession saying they will clear themselves at the police.
“Let us use our modern day business intelligence to run our enterprises and not old beliefs that human parts make money. We don’t want such culprits in Zimunya. We are going to close all shops belonging to people linked to these ritual murders,” he said.
Online Reporter