A Bulawayo man was shot dead at his home by four suspected armed robbers in an attack that left his neighbour with gunshot wounds.
The man’s family talked about the devastation of losing a
loved one following his burial at Luveve Cemetery yesterday.
Smart Kutsanzira (46), died at Mpilo Central Hospital from
gunshot wounds and beatings inflicted by the armed robbers who broke into his
house in Cowdray Park’s Esigodweni area in the early hours of Sunday. The
shooting has left residents in the suburb living in fear
Kutsanzira’s neighbour was also shot on the same night
during the brazen attack.
A sombre atmosphere engulfed the cemetery yesterday morning
as friends, neighbours, relatives and fellow members of the Johanne Masowe
Gospel of God church from Entumbane, gathered to pay their last respects.
Everyone at the gravesite took off their shoes, walking
around barefoot, perhaps as a sign of respect or as a church ritual of some
sort.
A prayer was held and led by Madzibaba Mukwisho from the
church who asked mourners to kneel and join him in prayer.
A close family member who spoke on condition of anonymity
said the robbers raided the home at around 1AM on Sunday.
They forced open the gate, the French door, a steel door
and entered the house.
“When Smart heard people breaking into the house he went to
investigate. He was then shot. I’m not sure where, but he was shot. He then ran
out of the front door and jumped next door and they followed him. They caught
up with him, dragged him back to the house and then started to beat him up and
they shot him a second time,” said the relative.
Kutsanzira, the relative said, ended up giving in to the
armed robbers’ demands.
“They beat him up demanding money and he was saying he
doesn’t have any. They ended up taking his cellphone and about US$70. They took
the money and left. That was when his six-year-old child came out and called
his brother, who asked a neighbour, who rushed Smart to Mpilo Hospital,” said
the relative.
Doctors at Mpilo Central Hospital, the relative said, tried
to save Kutsanzira’s life but it was too late.
“At Mpilo Hospital, at around 4AM, that is where it was
discovered that Smart had been shot twice, once in the knee and in the chest
and he had cuts on the head from the beating. Doctors had to operate on him so
that they remove the bullet in his chest, he was taken out and then was put in
ICU. After that his health deteriorated and the family was phoned at around 2AM
on Monday morning saying he had died,” said the relative.
The relative said a fellow neighbour, aged 60, who lives
directly opposite Kutsanzira’s house, was also attacked on the same night by
the same robbers.
“The neighbour met Smart’s relatives at Mpilo Hospital, he was at the casualty ward, near where Smart was given a bed. He then narrated his ordeal at the hands of the robbers. The neighbour says the robbers attacked his house at around midnight and he was also shot. They fired at him and they were looking for money,” said the neighbour.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said
they are treating the incident as murder and armed robbery.
“We are investigating a case where armed robbers struck two
houses near each other in Cowdray Park’s Esigodweni area. Two people were shot
in the knee by the armed robbers who went away with money with a total amount
of R7 500. Unfortunately, one of the victims died, Smart Kutsanzira, and we are
now treating this case as armed robbery and murder,” said Insp Ncube.
Last month, police shot and killed three armed robbers
trying to rob a mining equipment dealer in Bulawayo’s Fourwinds suburb. Three
others were taken into custody and have appeared in court. The six-armed
robbers were part of a gang that raided Choppies Supermarket in Parklands and
Access Finance in the city, getting away with nearly US$300 000 and R1 million
recently.
Police said the six are linked to other armed robberies in
the city, and had also just come from South Africa with the intention of
committing more robberies.
A few days later another armed robber was shot dead during
a shootout with the police in the city centre. Constable Gibson Tafara
Madzimure (35) was shot in the head at the home of an alleged illegal foreign
currency dealer, Last Mukomawashe. Const Madzimure was rushed to Mpilo Central
Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Between March and June this year, Bulawayo police reported
32 armed robberies in the city, including the fatal shooting of a till operator
at a liquor store in Ascot. Chronicle
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