adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
PLUMTREE serial rapist, Limukani Sibanda, discovered hanging from a tree on Wednesday, is suspected to have committed suicide about three weeks ago. His relatives said they were notified by the police who had assessed the level of decomposition of the corpse during their preliminary investigations.
His elder brother, Clement Ncube, said his late brother’s skin had peeled off. He said parts of his feet had fallen off from his body.
He said police attempted to take his fingerprints but failed because a jelly like liquid was dripping from his fingers and it would come out each time they applied the finger print ink.
“When the police told us that they had fetched my brother’s body from Madlambuzi to Plumtree and summoned us to the station I did not expect to see him in that state.
“Most of his skin had peeled off and parts of his feet had fallen off. In the state that he was in, I wonder how they managed to retrieve him from the tree without any body parts falling off,” said Ncube.
He said his brother’s body had been reduced to a small heap that was bundled up in worn out clothes. He said his face had also been disfigured and they had to retrieve his cellphone from his pockets to positively identify him and consider several other features he had.
Ncube said the whole family was shocked by the violent actions which his younger brother portrayed just before his death namely poisoning villagers, torching his girlfriend’s homestead and raping helpless women and children.
He said they were all puzzled as to what could have triggered the late Sibanda’s strange behaviour.
Ncube said burial arrangements were yet to be made as the family was waiting for the arrival of the late Sibanda’s father from Botswana.
Sibanda’s body was found hanging from a tree in bushy area at Khandlamhlophe Village on Wednesday evening. A villager from the area who was herding cattle found Sibanda’s body and alerted the police.
Police from Madlambuzi attended the scene and retrieved the body which was now decomposed on Thursday morning.
Sibanda raped a Grade 7 pupil, his friend’s mother and ex-girlfriend recently and then went into hiding a month ago. He collected a rope from his uncle’s homestead in Madlambuzi area soon after committing the offences and was never seen after that.
His relatives are gathered at his grandmother’s homestead at a suburb in Plumtree.
Madlambuzi villagers had to withdraw their children from Tsukuru Primary School which is 20 kilometres away from the village following the spate of rape cases by Sibanda.
derick.khumalo