The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu Senior Reporter
A MAN from Entumbane suburb in Bulawayo went missing after committing a gruesome attack on his elder brother on Friday evening, with some relatives fearing he might have thrown himself into a disused quarry pit with water near their home, Sunday News has learnt. The man, Tongoona Muchayiri (35), allegedly fled his family home at around 8pm on Friday after attacking his elder brother Eddington (39) three times on the head with a hoe following a dispute over the ownership of the family house.
According to Cossor (32), the last born in the family of four, the two brothers together with their sister, Tragedy, had for many years been fighting over ownership of their late parents’ house.
“Tragedy, Eddington and Tongoona have always been fighting over our late parent’s home. Tongoona has always wanted to evict Eddington from the house saying he is the owner of the house since our father made him the executor of his Will. He is supported by our married sister who always fights with Eddington,” said a grieving Cossor.
He said the two always caused drama when they came to the family home and tried to chase away their elder brother.
“I saw them arguing at the gate around 7pm and they came into the yard. They called me but I refused and said as I am the youngest, I cannot meddle in their unending quarrels and that they should solve the issue amicably,” said Cossor.
He said he left the three and came back to find Eddington in the yard and the other two outside the gate and tried in vain to get them to solve their issues inside the house.
Eddington then heard his two children crying and decided to fetch them but fell as he was drunk. He managed to locate one child and went outside the gate to search for the other one just two houses away.
On his way there he fell again and Tongoona took advantage of the drunkenness of his brother and grabbed a hoe in their yard and struck him three times on the head.
Cossor said when he went to inspect the situation, he found his brother lying lifeless on the tarmac bleeding profusely from his injuries. He was then ferried by a neighbhour’s kombi to Mpilo Central Hospital where he was admitted into intensive care. He was last night said to be in critical condition.
The wife to the attacked man, Tryphyne Mthunzi, said her husband was lifeless when she visited him yesterday morning.
“I saw him this morning but he is not moving at all or showing signs of being alive he is on life support. I am saddened by what happened.
Babomcane (Tongoona) hit him with a hoe, they are always fighting and we didn’t think it would come to this stage,” said a sobbing Mthunzi.
Cossor told the Sunday News that his brother was no stranger to violence.
“He (Tongoona) is a violent man, he once stabbed his former wife while fighting and she left him. At one point he attacked a tenant with an iron bar for failing to pay rent and now he has attacked his own brother,” he said.
A family relative, Margret Chisale, said they feared Tongoona might have committed suicide by drowning himself in the quarry pit near their house after assuming that he killed his brother. His clothes were also seen strewn on a path leading to the disused quarry.
The police spokesperson for Bulawayo province, Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo, confirmed the incident but lamented the failure of the family to report the case to the police.
“We heard from the grapevine that there were brothers involved in an attack with a hoe but the problem is that the aggrieved people did not make a formal report to the police which is regrettable as delays in reporting can lead to evidence being tampered with at the scene of the crime,” he said.
Insp Moyo said whenever crimes are committed there should be a swift reaction and a police report must be made so that the perpetrators of the crimes are also intercepted before they escape.
“Had this case been reported quickly enough, the police would have attended the scene and managed to track the accused person quickly and arrested him,” he said.
Insp Moyo said investigations were under way to establish the exact cause of the hoe attack and also to monitor the state of the victim who is on life support at the moment. They will also launch a manhunt for the accused.
Meanwhile, the body of a man who hanged himself after killing his wife was buried yesterday at West Park Cemetery.
The man, Gellot Ncube, hanged himself after giving his sister money for his funeral. The commuter omnibus driver from Gwabalanda, stabbed his wife nine times on the face, neck and chest after she walked out of their three-year marriage.
His funeral convoy of kombi’s and Iveco minibuses almost caused a traffic jam along Luveve Road.
His wife, Nomqhele Nkiwane, will be buried today at West Park Cemetery.
