Online Reporter
Moreblessing Ncube
EMAKHANDENI residents in Bulawayo are reeling after a chilling machete attack by a man known as much for his violent past as for the intimidating tattoos inked across his arms.
Nkosilathi Dlamini (23), a repeat offender with fiery red eyes and arms etched in menacing body art, allegedly ambushed Robert Mutsaka and hacked him with a machete.
The vicious robbery left Mutsaka bloodied and unconscious.
It occurred just after 6 PM on 21 April, as Mutsaka took a shortcut between Emakhandeni Primary and Secondary schools.
Prosecutor Owen Mugari said Dlamini, alongside an accomplice still on the run, ordered Mutsaka to the ground before blinding him with a torch and launching a brutal assault.
“When he momentarily shone the torch in his face, I instantly recognised the tattoos,” Mutsaka told the court. “But before I could speak, the machete came down on me.”
The thugs made off with an Itel A55 phone, US$130 in cash, and even the black shoes off Mutsaka’s feet.
Waking up in a hospital bed, Mutsaka said he felt like he’d been cut open and stitched back together. “I couldn’t remember my own name. I couldn’t remember if I was married,” he said.
Unfazed, Dlamini however, denied the charges and tried to discredit the tattoo identification. “I’m not the only guy with tattoos,” he scoffed in court.
But the victim was adamant. “Those tattoos are like fingerprints. I’ve seen them before, and I’ll never forget them. They’re burned into my memory the same way his machete carved into my skin.”
Now dubbed the “Tattooed Terror of Emakhandeni,” Dlamini remains behind bars awaiting judgment on 24 July.
derick.khumalo