The wife and son of a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative Peter Munetsi, who was allegedly murdered during the 2017 coup that removed the late former President Robert Mugabe from power, has taken Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri to the High Court seeking over US$185 000 in compensation.
BY CHARLES LAITON
Rossie and Peter Munetsi Junior are cited as applicants in the matter, while Muchinguri-Kashiri has been cited as the respondent. Muchinguri-Kashiri is yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Rossie said on November 14, 2017, her husband, who was a divisional intelligence officer, was summoned to report for duty by his employer and never returned home alive.
“Sometime during the night of November 14, 2017, the deceased (Peter) was forcibly seized and taken away to One Commando Barracks by members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), whose names and ranks are not known to the plaintiffs (Rossie and Peter Jr), where the deceased was wilfully, unlawfully, unjustifiably, wrongfully, savagely and brutally assaulted by members of the defence forces, thereby inflicting severe and fatal injuries upon the deceased,” the pair said in its founding affidavit.
Rossie and her son further said following the brutal assault perpetrated on their breadwinner, the latter succumbed to the injuries while in military custody.
“The postmortem report of the deceased made by government pathologist Dr Tsungai Jabangwe at Parirenyatwa Hospital confirmed that the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries and severe anaemia post extensive subcutaneous and intramuscular haemorrhage caused by the severe assaults inflicted on the body of the deceased,” the pair said.
Rossie and her son further said when the members of the defence forces savagely attacked Munetsi, they were acting within the scope of their employment being within the scope of the Defence ministry and, as such, it was liable to the actions of its employees.
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“The deceased was under a legal duty to support and maintain the plaintiffs and, in fact, did so.
As a result of his death, the plaintiffs lost his support. According to an actuarial assessment, the first plaintiff (Rossie) would have been entitled to support and maintenance from the deceased up to his mandatory retirement age of 65 in the equivalent sum of US$113 046 and second plaintiff (Peter Junior) would have been entitled to support for the deceased up to the age of 21 in the equivalent sum of US$17 581,” the pair said, adding it was also claiming US$55 000 in general damages.
