By Garikai Tunhira
A HARARE-BASED British citizen on Saturday night came face-to-face with local police brutality when he was assaulted while in Warren Park to drop off his auto-electrician in the suburb.
Kireto Mushava (54), a holder of a British passport, said he came to Zimbabwe in January when his wife was ill, and she passed on a few days ago.
He said he had never left his Westlea home since January, and only went out on Saturday to get his car repaired at Zindoga shopping centre in Waterfalls.
At around 7pm when he was in Warren Park D near Mereki where he had gone to drop one of the people who had been fixing his car, Mushava said he was shocked when police officers in anti-riot gear blocked the road and pulled him out of the car.
“I asked what wrong I had done and one of them grabbed my face mask, tore it apart and accused me of not wearing a face mask. He bundled me into the back of their ZRP Scania truck and his colleagues pulled me in. I asked again what I had done wrong and another one accused me of being one of the people that was pelting the police truck with stones,” Mushava said.
“They demanded money from me and I refused to give them because I had not done any wrong. One of them put his hand into my pocket, pulled out my wallet and took the US$200 that was inside and gave me back my wallet.
“When I tried to resist, I was hit on my right ear with a baton, and now I can’t hear. I fear my eardrum was damaged. The truck moved a distance and the police officers told me to get down, which I refused to do, and one of them said I was being thick-headed. They beat me all over the body. There were two other civilians at the back of the truck, but the police officers vented their anger on me. I don’t remember how many times their batons landed on my body, but I’m in excruciating pain.”
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Mushava said in the process, they damaged his spectacles and mobile phone, and now he could not work because he used it to connect with his bosses who are in the United Kingdom.
“When they pushed me off the truck, they told the driver to move fast fearing I would take down the registration plate. There was no registration at the back, but I followed them from a distance and finally managed to get to the front of the vehicle. Its registration was ZRP 494.”
Mushava said he reported the matter at Warren Park Police Station and it was recorded under RRB 4802324.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi could not be reached for comment.
- Follow Garikai on Twitter @garietunhira
