KWEKWE – Unconfirmed reports from Munyati, about 30km outside Kwekwe, yesterday said several officers at Munyati police base had been arrested after a suspected shopbreaker was found dead in a police cell with gunshot wounds last week.
Report by Blessed Mhlanga, Staff Reporter
Blessing Matanda, who was 29, of Munyati compound was found lying next to a pistol, in a pool of blood in his cell at the Munyati police base at around 11am on October 4.
Information gleaned from a form completed by the police indicated that Matanda was shot twice in the chest and leg in a case the police are treating as suspected murder.
Sources close to the investigations told NewsDay that the suspect had been arrested by members of the public at around 5am on the fateful day on suspicion he had broken into and stolen from a shop in Munyati.
He was handed over to the police and was detained in a holding cell, while the officers on duty were waiting to hand him over to the Kwekwe Criminal Investigation Department.
Highly-placed sources said at 10am relatives of the now deceased brought him food which he ate before going back into his cell.
At around 11am, a police officer was assigned to transport Matanda to Kwekwe and upon opening the cells he reportedly found the suspect lying next to the pistol in a pool of blood.
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The gun recovered in the cell was reportedly stolen in March from one Godfrey Makoni of Harare who was at the time staying at Munyati Power Station Guest Lodge.
The body of the deceased, which was being kept at the Kwekwe General Hospital mortuary, was transferred to Bulawayo on Monday for a postmortem, while Matanda’s clothing was taken for forensic tests as investigations continue into the matter which is being kept under wraps.
Police sources told NewsDay yesterday that some of their colleagues from the Munyati base had since been arrested and were being held at Kwekwe Central Police Station although this could not be verified.
Kwekwe police spokesperson Detective Assistant Inspector Lawrence Machingura declined to comment and referred all questions to one Detective Constable Kanyeka, who was unavailable at the time of going to print.
