News / Local
Missing corpse foot, father threatens to unleash 'African Magic'
09 Apr 2014 at 06:24hrs | Views
OFFICIALS at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) and the police were yesterday playing a blame game over the missing human foot belonging to a Kombi accident victim.
This was after the Nkomo family whose son Daniel was buried without his left foot accused hospital staff of "knowing where it had gone to."
Thomas Nkomo, Daniel's father, has threatened to unleash "African Magic" to punish whoever "stole" the foot.
Daniel was one of the seven people who died on the spot when a vehicle veered off the road and hit them as they attended to a broken down car along the Bulawayo-Harare highway near Shangani on March 7, 2014.
ZRP national traffic spokesperson Inspector Tigere Chigome said it was rare for police to surrender accident victims to mortuaries with missing parts.
"There is no way police could have tampered with the foot or left it at the scene of the accident. When we attend to road accident scenes, we scan the place thoroughly and pick up even the tiniest body parts and match them with the bodies before sending them to a mortuary.
"The relatives of the now deceased Daniel confirmed they helped police pack the bodies and surely we cannot dispute that. If they saw both feet, we cannot dispute that and it seems someone somewhere did really tamper with the deceased's foot. This is very tricky", said Insp Chigome.
UBH chief executive officer Nonhlanhla Ndlovu said police were likely to have a better explanation on what happened to the foot as her mortuary personnel were not capable of amputating the foot.
"It is a pity that the Nkomo family did not make an official complaint with us and we were not aware of that issue until today when we read about it in the paper. Firstly the deceased was buried a month ago and it is a long time for the family to start demanding a human foot. If they were serious about the missing foot, they were supposed to make a report soon after the incident.
"Secondly bodies go through the police pathologist and I am sure police officials will be in a better position to explain what happened to the missing foot. In road accidents it is normal to have missing body parts and that does not mean mortuary staff tamper with the parts," she said.
Nkomo on Monday told Chronicle that he was having sleepless nights over his son's missing foot adding that he was engaging prophets to ascertain what happened to the foot.
He said he was part of a group of villagers who handed over the bodies to the police.
"I removed two shoes from my son's two feet. The other foot was missing when we collected the body for burial at the UBH mortuary. The hospital staff and police were uncooperative when we told them. We were eventually forced to bury Daniel without his foot," Nkomo said.
This was after the Nkomo family whose son Daniel was buried without his left foot accused hospital staff of "knowing where it had gone to."
Thomas Nkomo, Daniel's father, has threatened to unleash "African Magic" to punish whoever "stole" the foot.
Daniel was one of the seven people who died on the spot when a vehicle veered off the road and hit them as they attended to a broken down car along the Bulawayo-Harare highway near Shangani on March 7, 2014.
ZRP national traffic spokesperson Inspector Tigere Chigome said it was rare for police to surrender accident victims to mortuaries with missing parts.
"There is no way police could have tampered with the foot or left it at the scene of the accident. When we attend to road accident scenes, we scan the place thoroughly and pick up even the tiniest body parts and match them with the bodies before sending them to a mortuary.
"The relatives of the now deceased Daniel confirmed they helped police pack the bodies and surely we cannot dispute that. If they saw both feet, we cannot dispute that and it seems someone somewhere did really tamper with the deceased's foot. This is very tricky", said Insp Chigome.
UBH chief executive officer Nonhlanhla Ndlovu said police were likely to have a better explanation on what happened to the foot as her mortuary personnel were not capable of amputating the foot.
"It is a pity that the Nkomo family did not make an official complaint with us and we were not aware of that issue until today when we read about it in the paper. Firstly the deceased was buried a month ago and it is a long time for the family to start demanding a human foot. If they were serious about the missing foot, they were supposed to make a report soon after the incident.
"Secondly bodies go through the police pathologist and I am sure police officials will be in a better position to explain what happened to the missing foot. In road accidents it is normal to have missing body parts and that does not mean mortuary staff tamper with the parts," she said.
Nkomo on Monday told Chronicle that he was having sleepless nights over his son's missing foot adding that he was engaging prophets to ascertain what happened to the foot.
He said he was part of a group of villagers who handed over the bodies to the police.
"I removed two shoes from my son's two feet. The other foot was missing when we collected the body for burial at the UBH mortuary. The hospital staff and police were uncooperative when we told them. We were eventually forced to bury Daniel without his foot," Nkomo said.
Source - chronicle
