News / National

by Kingstone Mapupu

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POLICE are investigating a suspected ritual murder case in which the body of a Bikita woman, believed to have been five months pregnant, was found burnt by the roadside without the foetus inside.Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed that 39-year-old Headgirl Mabvira's body was found by the roadside.Mabvira is understood to have been living with her boyfriend identified as Fashion Mupakati (39) at Muzokomba Business Centre in Buhera.The two worked together at a local shop.It is said that Mupakati gave his live-in girlfriend sex-performance concoction on July 19, which she consumed.Chief Supt Nyathi said the woman then started to have stomach pain and was referred to Murambinda Mission Hospital where she was treated and discharged.The deceased then returned home, but could not find her $10 500 and reported the case to police on July 23."It is said that July 23 is the day that the deceased woman disappeared, a development that prompted her relatives to report the matter to police," said Chief Supt Nyathi.The body of the deceased was then spotted by the roadside in the morning of August 1 by passengers on a bus travelling along the Chiduku-Checheni road in Bikita.The bus driver then told Peter Makaya, of Devure Resettlement, who then reported the matter to police.When police attended the scene they found the charred body by the roadside and took it to Masvingo General Hospital mortuary from where they later took it to Bulawayo for a post-mortem.Chief Supt Nyathi said during the period, the deceased's relatives were looking for her.On August 13, the deceased's relatives then approached the police after learning of the dead body that had been found by the roadside."This matter is still under investigation and police are keen to establish whether she was murdered and whether she was pregnant. We sincerely appeal to those with information that could help us to contact us (04) 703 631," said Chief Supt Nyathi.Headgirl's relatives are of the opinion that she was murdered for ritual purposes by a businessman in that area.It is said that she was five months pregnant although the relatives say she did not have the foetus when her body was found.Headgirl's mother, Eusebia Sarafu (75), of headman Gwaradzimba, in Mushongwi Village in Buhera, said her daughter was murdered and the foetus was removed for ritual purposes."My daughter was murdered and she died a painful death. Surely how can they slaughter her like a beast, remove her foetus and then burn her body!" she said.She said her daughter had money which she got from her business operations at the growth point until she met and fell in love with Mupakati who was a maize-meal vendor.She said the two had been in love for two years although Mupakati had not yet paid lobola."The whole thing started on July 1 when my daughter was given poison and taken to hospital. Mupakati came here to inform me of my daughter's sudden illness and we went together to the hospital at Muzokomba."My daughter told me that she had been given poison. We took her to Murambinda Hospital where she received treatment and we were told that she had consumed poison," she added.She said Mupakati returned home leaving her daughter in hospital and all of a sudden Headgirl's money that was in the house went missing together with her passport.She was buried at Mushongwi Village in Buhera on August 14.It is also said that before she disappeared, Headgirl had gone to her boyfriend's home area of Mushongwi in Buhera with the intention of consulting an apostolic faith prophet about her missing money.It is understood that she was then followed by her boyfriend."All we know is that the boyfriend followed her to his home area where she had gone with the intention of consulting a prophet about her missing money."During that period she called us on July 31 saying she had been taken by her boyfriend and they were heading for Muzokomba but they never arrived, only to disappear permanently," she said.They consulted traditional healers concerning her whereabouts and were only told to look for her in areas near Birchenough Bridge."The boyfriend was briefly detained by police before being released," said the deceased's mother.She said they only found Headgirl's body at Masvingo General Hospital.They were made to understand that her burnt and undressed body had been picked up by the roadside in Zaka.