The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Sunday News Reporter
IN a heart wrenching incident, a six-year-old girl from Bikita in Masvingo was brutally killed and then stashed in a sack before the body was dumped in a septic tank in suspected ritual murder.
It is understood that the girl, Michelle Musharu, went missing for six days while she was playing with her friends at Nyika Growth Point in Bikita along Masvingo-Mutare highway and her body was later found stashed in a sack in septic tank while at an advanced stage of decomposition.
Michelle’s father Mr Samuel Musharu said the postmortem had revealed that she had a broken skull, broken ribs and arms and died of strangling. Mr Musharu said police have not yet arrested the culprit.
“It was on Saturday (two weeks back) when our daughter went missing. We have a shop at Nyika Growth point and she was playing outside with her friends and children of other shop owners around.
“In the evening, she did not return home that is when we went to the police and they told us that we could only make a formal report 24 hours.
“We then went back home where we engaged relatives and friends who then helped us to search for the child but to no avail,” he said. Mr Musharu said Michelle’s body was later found six days later stashed in a sack dumped in a septic tank.
“After about a week, my wife went behind the shop intending to throw away baby diapers that is when she noticed our daughter’s tennis shoe. We then alerted the police who responded swiftly.
“We then went to where the shoe was which was close to the septic tank and we noticed that there was something in it.
“We then tried to pull it out and that is when we noticed that it was a sack. When we opened it we noticed that it was Michelle.
“The body was taken to Masvingo for postmortem which revealed that she had broken bones and ribs and had head injuries. It also revealed that she died of strangling,” he said.
Mr Musharu said he suspected that she was killed by people close to the family. Masvingo Provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dewa confirmed the incident saying police were still investigating the matter.
“I can confirm that we are investigating a suspected murder case where a girl from Nyika went missing and was later found in a septic tank,” he said.
