adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
AN original copy of a will that was reportedly left by Robert Wood, who was found hanged in his rented home two years ago, has vanished.
The inquest into the former British Special Air Services (SAS) soldier’s death ended yesterday, with magistrate Enias Magate expected to deliver his finding on June 2, 2014.
After Wood’s death, police reportedly took all of his original documents, including papers for a lucrative gold mine he owned just outside Bulawayo.
They also confiscated passports belonging to his Zimbabwean wife, Gugulethu Henrietta Dube, and her grandmother, Esnath Moyo, who is purported to be a signatory to the will.
During cross examination yesterday, Detective Assistant Inspector Dzirawo Matsika, one of the police officers who were investigating Wood’s death, said he had failed to locate the original copy of the will.
“I only got a photocopy of the will. I tried to get the original copy but I failed. I checked with the CID fraud section, who were also dealing with the case, and they said they didn’t have the will,” said Det Asst Insp Matsika, who is stationed at the CID homicide.
He, however, said he had recorded an affidavit from Moyo, who indicated that the signature on the will did not belong to her.
“Moyo told me that the signature on the photocopy of the will was not hers. She didn’t indicate that the signature was faint (as she later told the inquest),” said Det Insp Matsika.
Tholiwe Clarke, Henrietta’s mother, who claimed that all of Wood’s original documents were surrendered to the police, asked the detective why the will was nowhere to be found when law enforcement agents were supposed to be in possession of the documents.
“Your bosses collected all the documents, including the original copy of the will and company papers. Henrietta and Esnath’s passports were also taken by the police. Why then do you say you don’t have the will?” asked Clarke.
Det Asst Insp Matsika acknowledged that he had seen the passports but said he was not aware that his superiors took the original copy of the will in question.
Wood’s relatives suspect the former soldier was murdered by associates of Dube so that she could benefit from the fraudulent will she allegedly authored. She strenuously denies having a hand in Wood’s death.
Rob, as Wood was known to his friends, died on March 9 last year after a night of heavy drinking with his mistress, Dube, at a local sports club.
His family, based in the United Kingdom, disputed that the dad-of-two — whose wife, Susan, lives in England — killed himself, saying they strongly believed he was murdered.
A postmortem conducted by local doctors gave the cause of death as asphyxia due to hanging and a pathologist recorded it as a suicide.
This is the second inquest after another was held in the United Kingdom in November 2013 at the end of which the coroner recorded an open verdict because there was not enough evidence to determine how he died.
derick.khumalo