A two-year-old toddler died after falling from the family’s 11th floor flat in central Harare yesterday afternoon.
The boy, Mufaro Churu, reportedly fell from the apartment’s window at Trafalgar Court along Julius Nyerere Way at around 1pm but was only recovered in a pool of blood at about 5:30pm after landing on a ledge in the alley side of the property on the 1st floor where no one spotted him. Residents who spoke to NewsDay said crows had already started pecking on the body when police arrived to retrieve it.
“The toddler was sleeping on a bed next to a window without burglar bars when he woke up and jumped outside. We heard the noise as he fell but could not establish what it was until the mother spotted him after a marathon search,” a resident who refused to be named told NewsDay last night.
When NewsDay arrived at the scene, police were collecting the body with grief-stricken residents still failing to come to terms with the tragedy. Mufaro’s mother reportedly passed out and had to be taken to a local hospital.
Efforts to get a police comment were futile as Harare police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said he was off duty and referred questions to Assistant Inspector Tarirai Dube, who could not be reached by the time of going to print.
