The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Reporter
A 52-YEAR-OLD Sakubva woman is suspected to have been raped before being murdered in cold blood by her unidentified boyfriend last week on Wednesday night and her body was only discovered in an advanced state of decomposition, four days after the gruesome incident.
Muchaneta Tserai (52), whose body was found in a maize field near her home, is said to have had a dispute with her new boyfriend that resulted in the suspected callous murder. According to her daughter Tafadzwa Tarakinywa (23) the deceased mother of five must have been raped before she was hacked by a sharp object believed to be a machete.
Tarakinywa said her mother had visible deep cuts on the back part of her head as well as on both sides of her shoulders.
“It happened last Wednesday night. That is the last time that her whereabouts were known.
‘‘She actually tried to run away from the assailant and went to a friend’s house but returned that night thinking that the assailant had given up on her for that night. However, it appears the assailant had been tracking her and that is when she was brutally murdered.
“We really do not know who exactly who could have committed this crime. What we have gathered is that this was done by someone she has recently started an affair with. We are told that on the night that she was eventually murdered, she confided in a friend that she is having problems with her new boyfriend. She, however, did not divulge the identity of the new boyfriend,” she said.
The body was discovered on Sunday morning around 7am in a maize field near her home, exactly four days after the grisly incident.
When The Weekender caught up with Chido Chikumbi, Tserayi’s friend to whom she confided that she had a dispute with her new boyfriend, she confirmed that Tserayi did not divulge the identity of her new boyfriend.
“Yes, she came to my place around 9pm. I was actually coming from church when I saw her near my place. She told me that she had been running away from someone but she refused to tell me who that person was.
“I actually suggested that she stays a little bit longer or even spend a night at my place if she was indeed having differences with someone but she refused and insisted that she returns to her place. Little had I known it would end this way,” she said.
Tserayi’s murder in the View House section of Sakubva near OTS evokes memories of yet another cold blood murder in similar fashion that occurred in 2016 in the same area.
Thus residents who spoke to The Weekender implored the local authority to prioritise repairing street-lights in most parts of Sakubva and other high density areas.
Clever Muparutsa, a neighbour of the deceased, said some of the murder cases can be avoided if street-lights are repaired and are functioning well.
“It is sad that this woman must have been followed by the assailant, monitoring her movements and she did not realise that.
‘‘This is the reason we have always pleaded with the city fathers to prioritise repairing street-lights in most parts of Sakubva and other high density areas. We are experiencing the same problem especially here in View House section,” he said.
Police Manicaland spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa said investigations into the suspected murder case are ongoing.
Tserai was expected to be buried this week at her rural home in Zimunya communal lands upon arrival from Harare where her body had been taken for post mortem.
