By Desmond Munemo
Relatives of a slain suspected thief yesterday took the body to the scene of murder where they performed and conducted Gule waMkulu rituals.
The 30-year-old Davison Sachikumbi of Dzivaresekwa was beaten to death by an angry mob in Tynwald South after a foiled house breaking attempt to steal phones and a television set.
The family and friends placed the coffin at the scene where Sachikumbi was found dead and performed gule dances and songs for more than 30 minutes before they carried the deceased to his final resting place.
Families living near the murder scene temporarily fled their home as they feared the angry DZ mob who sang ‘birwai, birwai, birwai’ for most of the time they were at the murder scene.
Sachikumbi’s friend Wiseman Chaboka who found the now deceased lying lifeless said his friend had broken into three houses stealing cellphones and television sets but he was later apprehended when he barged into the fourth house where he bumped into a woman who was on her way to the toilet.
“He took out a knife and tried to scare away the woman but she screamed until the husband woke up and the fight broke up, that’s when he was caught up.
“He was thoroughly beaten from around 3am until about 7am that was the time when the police came and took his body,” he said.
Another friend Michael Nyamaropa said he was pained that a wrong had been used to right a wrong.
“It’s sad because they could have just called the police than beating him up to death.”
Sachikumbi’s wife Loina January said she knew that her husband was a thief.
“Yes I know he was a thief but how can they kill him like that?
“They tied his hands with a wire and started beating him up with stones and bricks; they then took a boltcutter and started squeezing his private parts while cutting his hair and sprinkling ashes all over his face,” she said.
Mai Chimanda one of the women at the scene said Sachikumbi came from Moyondizvo Road in Dzivaresekwa and he was alone in his stealing acts when he was caught.
Efforts to get comments from households whose phones and television sets were stolen were fruitless as they had fled their homes. H-Metro
