Chronicle Editor
Flora Fadzai Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter
A 16-YEAR-OLD boy from Nkulumane 12 in Bulawayo allegedly fatally stabbed his 22-year-old neighbour in a fight over water.
The minor, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, got angry when Tinashe Tanaka Gweshe increased the number of buckets he wanted to fill up at a borehole, when there was a long queue.
Onlookers intervened when the confrontation escalated into a fistfight.
The teen, witnesses said, went home and armed himself with a kitchen knife.
He went back to the borehole and asked Gweshe for a hug to “show they had forgiven each other.”
As Gweshe approached with outstretched hands and a big smile on his face, the juvenile stabbed him on the abdomen and fled.
The boy was arrested for assault and put under custody of his mother.
Gweshe was rushed to the hospital where doctors treated him for internal bleeding and declared him stable.
However, Gweshe died the following day and the teenager was arrested for murder.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the murder.
Looking distressed, the minor’s mother told Chronicle she was still in shock.
“I am in no position to say anything meaningful right now. The only person who was at the scene, who can tell you anything, is a minor and I do not want to traumatise him with the experience of repeating the incident,’ she said.
A member of the community who declined to be named said the teen has always been troublesome and he was recently expelled from school.
Another community member said: “Tanaka was a humble boy. You would occasionally see him welding with his father. I have never heard of him being involved in any violence,” said the member.
Gweshe’s father Mr Petros Gweshe, with tears streaming down his eyes, said he was not ready to talk about his son.
“I am grieving and not in a state to comment right now,” said Mr Gweshe.
Insp Ncube urged members of the public to desist from violence. – @flora_sibanda
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