News / National
Man fatally assaulted over a cigarette
19 Jun 2013 at 08:20hrs | Views
MUTARE - A beer-drinking binge ended tragically last week after a 23-year-old Makoni man was fatally assaulted by his drinking mate following a heated misunderstanding over a cigarette.
Rice Nyerete (23), of Nzombe village under Chief Makoni in Odzi, died at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare last Saturday after he was fatally struck with a log by his drinking mate Trust Mutunha (29), who is still at large.
Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Enock Chishiri confirmed the incident, adding the fugitive Mutunha faces a murder charge.
He said on Wednesday last week, the two were drinking beer in the company of others at Chiwende business centre in Odzi when a misunderstanding broke out after Nyerete asked for a cigarette from Mutunha.
Nyerete allegedly lost his temper after Mutunha refused to share his cigarettes, leading to a heated altercation.
"When the now deceased realised that his friend was getting angry, he went out of the bottle store, but Mutunha followed him outside. A friend managed to restrain him from striking the now deceased with a log," Chishiri said.
"After a while, Mutunha picked the log again and struck his drinking mate once on the back of the head and he fell on the ground and became unconscious," Chishiri added.
Upon realising that he had committed an offence, Mutunhu disappeared into the darkness to evade arrest.
Nyerete was taken by his friends to Rusape District Hospital where he was later referred to Parirenyatwa where he died on admission.
Meanwhile, police have arrested a 42-year-old woman along with her 19-year-old niece for fatally assaulting their 15-year-old relative over missing T-shirts.
According to police, Clara (42) and Stewart Muchinjiko (19) of Mayo teamed up to assault Constantia Muchinjiko accusing her of stealing two T-shirts last Saturday.
After failing to get a confession over the two missing clothing items, the two tied the juvenile to a pole and took turns to assault her until she fell unconscious and later died.
The two allegedly made a false police report that Muchinjiko had died of food poisoning.
However, preliminary investigations by the police showed that she died due to assault, leading to the arrest of the pair. They are expected to appear in court soon.
Rice Nyerete (23), of Nzombe village under Chief Makoni in Odzi, died at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare last Saturday after he was fatally struck with a log by his drinking mate Trust Mutunha (29), who is still at large.
Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Enock Chishiri confirmed the incident, adding the fugitive Mutunha faces a murder charge.
He said on Wednesday last week, the two were drinking beer in the company of others at Chiwende business centre in Odzi when a misunderstanding broke out after Nyerete asked for a cigarette from Mutunha.
Nyerete allegedly lost his temper after Mutunha refused to share his cigarettes, leading to a heated altercation.
"When the now deceased realised that his friend was getting angry, he went out of the bottle store, but Mutunha followed him outside. A friend managed to restrain him from striking the now deceased with a log," Chishiri said.
"After a while, Mutunha picked the log again and struck his drinking mate once on the back of the head and he fell on the ground and became unconscious," Chishiri added.
Nyerete was taken by his friends to Rusape District Hospital where he was later referred to Parirenyatwa where he died on admission.
Meanwhile, police have arrested a 42-year-old woman along with her 19-year-old niece for fatally assaulting their 15-year-old relative over missing T-shirts.
According to police, Clara (42) and Stewart Muchinjiko (19) of Mayo teamed up to assault Constantia Muchinjiko accusing her of stealing two T-shirts last Saturday.
After failing to get a confession over the two missing clothing items, the two tied the juvenile to a pole and took turns to assault her until she fell unconscious and later died.
The two allegedly made a false police report that Muchinjiko had died of food poisoning.
However, preliminary investigations by the police showed that she died due to assault, leading to the arrest of the pair. They are expected to appear in court soon.
Source - NewsDay
