BY RICHARD MUPONDE
THE decapitated body of a mentally-challenged man, believed to have been killed in a ritual murder two years ago, is still stuck at Gwanda mortuary and in an advanced state of decomposition, while the murderer was last week sentenced to life imprisonment
Mduna, as he was popularly known to the Colleen Bawn community, was killed by Honest Moyo (24) of Mawane, Gwanda district, in June 2017.
Mduna’s body was decapitated for suspected ritual purposes.
Moyo, whose intention was to smuggle the body parts to South Africa where he expected a US$25 000 payment, was last week convicted of murder with actual intent by Bulawayo
High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese and sentenced to life in prison.
In passing sentence, Justice Makonese condemned the heinous crime.
“Accused person decapitated the deceased’s head and cut off his testicles and harvested them. The heinous crime was motivated by greed and the love of money clouded his faculties. The murder sent shock waves in the local community,” he said.
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Justice Makonese said the courts had a duty to protect the sanctity of human life through passing deterrent sentences.
Mduna’s body is still stuck at Gwanda provincial mortuary where it is reported to be in an advanced state of decomposition awaiting pauper’s burial.
Gwanda provincial medical superintendent Rutendo Nyathi could not comment because the matter was still in court.
“The case is still in the courts. I will follow up,” Nyathi said.
However, a source at the health institution said the body was still in the mortuary.
“The body is still there. There’s the torso and the head and the testicles, which are placed in a plastic bag at the same place,” he said.
Moyo, who was employed at Crystal Block Farm in Colleen Bawn as a herd boy, waylaid Mduna at Colleen Bawn dumpsite on June 20 in 2017.
He killed Mduna and decapitated the body before burying it in a shallow grave.
The matter came to light after a relative, Thandolwenkosi Ndlovu, found Moyo shaving the decapitated head in the kitchen at his mother’s homestead.
A terrified Ndlovu bolted out of the kitchen, with Moyo in hot pursuit threatening to kill him.
Ndlovu alerted other villagers, who apprehended Moyo and handed him to the police.
Moyo then led the police to a dumpsite in Colleen Bawn, where he had buried the mutilated body.
