The rains fittingly fell around midday just as the hearse bearing the remains of Tapiwa Makore Jnr rolled into Makore Village, Murehwa, yesterday.
And around mid-afternoon, as the brown wooden coffin eased
into the brown soils of the village, it showered again. Culturally, there is a
link between the opening of the heavens and the burying of the dead.
But if the rains were meant to soothe the departed soul of
the seven-year-old Tapiwa or offer a comforting mourning atmosphere for the
Makore family, clouds of intrigue, uncertainty and delayed justice will linger
a little bit longer for the family.
Explaining to The Sunday Mail during Friday night’s vigil
why his family had rejected the DNA results which confirmed that a head found
three days after the gruesome murder was not their son’s, Munyaradzi Makore,
father to the murdered Tapiwa, said the skull had no human flesh, no hair and
its teeth did not even match their son’s. Not even a tongue.
Even a pathology test run by Parirenyatwa Group of
Hospitals confirmed that the head belonged to a 13 or 14-year-old, not a
seven-year-old.
What has raised suspicion is that DNA samples were only
extracted from Tapiwa’s mother, and not from both parents. The father confirmed
as much, saying the DNA tests were conducted through samples drawn from his
wife, and not from him, or both of them.
Ms Tabitha Chikeya, a lawyer who offered legal services pro
deo to the family, also confirmed that samples were drawn from the mother only
and not from both parents.
“That directive came from the police who were conducting
the investigations, that they needed samples only from the mother, and only the
police can answer why they decided on that. Maybe it was a financial
consideration,” she said.
Pressed on whether the decision could have been premised on
that a mother is considered a 100 percent match, she refused to answer, preferring
that only the police can answer that.
ZRP spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said:
“The DNA tests were done with guidance
from experts and since this was not a paternity test, it was only prudent to
get samples from the mother.”
On why the family had refused a State-assisted funeral, Mr
Makore said the assistance they wanted was justice for Tapiwa Jnr, and not
coffin, food and related funeral expenses, as they could contain those.
“It is justice that we want. To us, everyone who has
something to do with the murder is with the police and we are just wondering
why the wheels of justice seem to be taking this long to turn,” he said.
Tapiwa Jnr was last seen around sunset on Wednesday
September 16 last year when he was sent to tend the family garden. A search
party that evening yielded nothing only for dogs to drag pieces of what looked
like a human body piece into the village compound that Friday.
When police arrived in the village to investigate, a search was ordered into every homestead in the village. A pair of trousers covered in blood was recovered in Tafadzwa Shamba’s room, who was immediately taken in by the police as his explanation to the soiled trousers did not add up.
On interrogation Tafadzwa, a herdboy, implicated his employer,
Tapiwa Makore Snr, who is cousin to Munyaradzi Makore. The herdboy readily
admitted to the gruesome murder and explained in graphic detail how they had
intoxicated the young boy with beer, before cutting him into pieces. Through
his indications, limbs were located and dug from a pit latrine.
However, the family contends that the skull that was found
on the Sunday after Tapiwa’s murder on Thursday was not only too old to be
their son’s but did not have human flesh, blood or hair.
“What is surprising us is that the limbs which were
retrieved about two weeks after the murder had intact flesh, save for those
parts which had been removed by Tafadzwa, yet the skull which was recovered in
less than three days did not have any flesh. Even the pathologists who did a
post mortem at Parirenyatwa said the skull was too old to be our son’s,”
explained the father.
In November last year the family received DNA results from
the torso and limbs, which confirmed that the parts matched. These were done by
AIBST. On March 9, they received the second set of DNA results which confirmed
that the head matched the torso. The skull DNA tests were done by the National
University of Science and Technology (Nust) and AIBST.
It is to this end that the family has resolved to have an
independent DNA test for the skull, which was not buried with the other remains
yesterday. Mrs Beaulah Musupayi, the family spokesperson, said they were
looking at raising the US$4 200 needed for the DNA test so that they can have
closure on the issue.
“If our independent tests confirm that the head is, indeed,
Tapiwa’s, then we will proceed burying it with the other remains,” she said.
Yesterday’s sombre and highly emotional burial ceremony,
which was attended by thousands of mourners, some who walked as much as 10
kilometres to Makore Village, was a culmination of months of mourning.
When news of the murder broke, Chief Mangwende, under which
the village falls, initially said it was taboo in his area for a torso to be
buried without a head, which dragged the burial rites for some months.
When a concession was finally reached that a burial could
proceed all the same, the initial burial ceremony was slated for January 9,
only to be postponed as the country entered into the second national lockdown
to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
High-ranking Government and Zanu PF officials who attended
the burial include Senator Apollonia Munzverengwi, the Minister of Provincial
Affairs and Devolution (Mashonaland East), Honourable Daniel Garwe (the
Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities), Philip Sewera, William
Zemura and Chief Mangwende. Sunday Mail
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