BULAWAYO – Bulawayo police are preparing murder charges against five men after a naked thief who attempted to break into a house with a hoe and an axe was beaten to death.
Police are holding Tawanda Mhazo, 23, Erick Moyo, 25, Rusher Jimela, 65, Lovington Sibanda, 64, and Garikai Mhazo, 53, following the incident in Upper Rangemore, Umguza district, at around 2AM on Wednesday.
The dead man has been named as Waitor Moyo.
Bulawayo police spokesman Inspector Abednico Ncube said: “Tawanda Mhazo was asleep in his house when he was awakened by a loud sound at the door. He went outside the house to check the source of the noise and saw Waitor Moyo, the now deceased, who was naked and armed with a hoe trying to break the door.
“Moyo then fled from the scene after he realised that he had been noticed. He later on returned with an axe and started chopping down the door. Tawanda Mhazo called for help from his neighbours who are now the other four accused persons.”
Ncube said the four managed to apprehend Moyo and assaulted him with sticks before taking him to a police station where Mhazo reported a case of malicious damage to property.
“Police officers summoned an ambulance which ferried Moyo to Mpilo Central Hospital where he died at around 6AM,” Ndebele said.
“We urge members of the public to desist from taking the law into their hands but to apprehend such culprits and take them to the nearest police station for justice to take its course so as to avoid such incidents.”
Last December, a retired detective shot dead three armed men holding his wife and children hostage during a home invasion incident in Harare. He has not been charged.
