A 22-year-old man identified as Samuel Mashonga has been arrested by security operatives and is currently in police custody at the Magunje area of Zimbabwe on Thursday, for allegedly beheading his sister with the intention to sell her head to a local businessman for $4 000.
According to The Standard, the suspect was left at the family homestead with his sister while other family members were away for an all-night prayer vigil. The deceased, Dadirai Mashonga was the first born in the family while her suspected murderer is the last born.
Villagers who confirmed the incident said the suspect had been promised $4 000 for the head by a Zvipani businessman (name withheld) who wanted to use it for ritual purposes to boost his business. The suspect is said to have later confessed to the murder, saying he had planned to buy a car with the money.
A villager, Ndangariro Mashonga said the mother of the murderer came back from church in the early hours of Friday to find her daughter’s body lying in a pool of blood without a head.
“She called on neighbours who launched a manhunt for the murderer. The suspect who is said to have already delivered the head to the businessman soon after killing his sister began acting strangely, shouting that people were accusing him of killing his sister. That was besides the fact that nobody had said that at all,” said Donald Kapara a villager from the nearby Murimbika village who was part of the search team.
Blood stains on his trousers sold him out when he had gone to the businessman’s shop allegedly to collect his payment. A report was then made to the police leading to his arrest.
“He could not account for the blood stains on his trousers when people asked him where he had got the blood. He just continued shouting that he was being accused of killing his sister. On being further quizzed he confessed to the murder and the plans to buy a vehicle with the proceeds from the sale of his sister’s head,” Kapara said.
Police in Magunje yesterday said they had no authority to talk to the press. “Please get in touch with Mashonaland West provincial spokesperson Inspector Clemency Mabgweazara or the national police spokesperson Charity Charamba”, the officer who answered our call said.