It started like any other day for Natasha Munyengwa Goremucheche, a devout Christian, a former banker and a finance officer at Christ Embassy Church in Belvedere, Harare.
On the morning of September 28, 2022, the 42-year-old widow
left her place in Ashdown Park for work at near Belvedere Teachers’ College.
She caught a lift in the morning rush hour near Divaris
Shopping Center where she intended to catch a connecting lift to Christ Embassy
Church.
Little did Goremucheche know that the very next car will
see her to the end of her life. Ruthless criminals lurked for prey; ready to
pounce on innocent souls for money and if need be to kill in order to achieve
the same.
Goremucheche’s aunt, Irene Goremucheche Nyathi narrated the
harrowing story to The Mirror. Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul
Nyathi confirmed Goremucheche’s death and said a docket for murder has since
been opened.
At Divaris, Goremucheche saw a lift at the bus stop and
approached the driver who was alone in the vehicle and he confirmed that he was
going her direction. She took a seat at the back of the small Toyota without
taking particular interest on its make or colour.
A few metres away a man flagged down the car and he boarded
and joined Goremucheche at the back. The car drove for about half a kilometre
and suddenly Goremucheche was hit on the head with a fist and the man snatched
her mobile phone and handbag.
Goremucheche however, pinned the man down and the driver
seeing that his accomplice was losing out, pulled out an empty bottle and
handed it over to his accomplice who hit Goremucheche hard on the nose with it.
She then pleaded to be dropped off since the two already
got what they wanted but they drove her to the outskirts of Belvedere near
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Training Center where they tied
her hands with a belt and covered her face with her T shirt before dumping her
in a shallow pit.
She was ordered not to attempt to leave the pit until after
20 minutes because she was going to be shot dead if she did.
She eventually managed to free herself and got help at the
next homes about 200 metres away from the open space.
She made a Police report and got four stitches to the cut
on her face at the Avenues Clinic. A week later she complained of dizziness and
thereafter she could not see. An optician prescribed her some spectacles and
her eyesight was restored but her dizziness worsened and she became mentally
confused.
She was taken to hospital on October 13, 2022 where she was
pronounced dead on arrival.
Police ordered a post-mortem which showed that Goremucheche
suffered swollen brain.
It is heartrending that for a handbag, a mobile phone and
US$140, her three children; two girls aged 10 and 16 and another child aged 21
have suddenly become orphans. They will grow without a mother.
Goremucheche was buried at Mabvuku Cemetery on October 18,
2022.
Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyati urged members of the public to avoid boarding unregistered vehicles. He also added that ‘mushikashika’ drivers are being arrested. Masvingo Mirror
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