The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
AN INQUEST into the death of St Matthias Tsonzo High School student, Livingstone Sunhwa, whose remains were found six months after he had gone missing from the school in 2021, has begun at Mutasa Magistrates Court.
Livingstone (19) was buried in December last year, a year after he went missing.
Police reports suggested that he had committed suicide after being accused of stealing some food items from the school tuckshop.
Livingstone was doing his Form Four studies at the boarding school.
The inquest hearings will see witnesses to the events prior to Livingstone’s alleged suicide testifying before Mutasa magistrate, Mr Artwell Sanyatwe.
When the matter appeared before Mr Sanyatwe on Wednesday, Livingstone’s 17-year-old sister, who was also learning at St Matthias Tsonzo at the time of his death, gave an emotional testimony of her last encounter with her brother, leaving most people in tears.
The teenager, who is now studying at another school, said she suspects foul play on her brother’s death as no one, including school authorities and the Zimbabwe Republic Police, alerted her mother that Livingstone was missing from school, even days after his disappearance.
She said the afternoon prior to her brother’s disappearance, she saw him being held by the collar by a policeman who was in the company of the school’s senior teachers.
“On December 5, 2021, I saw Livingstone coming from the hostels with some teachers and policemen. Livingstone was being held by the collar by one of the policemen and they led him into the staff room.
“They were demanding for him to show them how he had entered the staff room. I then heard sounds that suggested that someone was being beaten inside the staff room and eventually I heard Livingstone crying and screaming, asking for them to stop,” narrated the teenager.
She said that is when other students started coming to witness the event but the teachers dismissed them.
“As soon as other students started to gather, we were dispersed and ordered to go to our hostels. After night study, I saw Livingstone standing outside and he had no shoes. That is the last time I saw him,” she said.
The teenager said she ended up calling her mother who was in South Africa to inform her of Livingstone’s disappearance.
Another witness, Mrs Lynette Chapungu also gave her testimony.
Mrs Chapungu discovered pieces of cloths, a blanket and some shoes that belonged to Livingstone.
She said she first saw the items towards the end of December 2021 after her grandchildren had alerted her.
“My grandchildren told me that they had seen the items in the bushes and I went there to collect them as I thought they belonged to my niece. However, she denied owning the items so I took them back to the area where I had found them.
“That was until June 2022 when the police came to investigate Livingstone’s disappearance. Prior to the police’s investigations, I did not know that there was a student who had gone missing at the school,” she said.
Mrs Chipungu went on to tell the court that she does not suspect foul play on Livingstone’s death.
Mr Sanyatwe remanded the matter to April 28.
On the date, three police officers who are dealing with the matter are expected to testify.
Livingstone’s skeletal remains were buried in December 2022, a year after he went missing from the school.
DNA tests conducted confirmed that the remains were Livingstone’s.
