Murdered man speaks on cellphone

SCORES of people gathered near Mbudzi Bus Stop yesterday morning to witness the exhumation of a man's body believed to have been murdered two months ago. A woman, who appeared to be in a trance, led people to the place after being directed by a mysterious voice that had initially spoken to her over a cellphone.

"The woman claimed that she picked up a cellphone near the place where the body is said to be buried. "Then the voice of the man thanked the woman for picking up the phone before instructing her to notify the police and then his family of his fate," said Thompson Tiwandi, a vendor who claimed to have witnessed this chilling episode unfold.

"In amazement, the woman emerged from the nearby rocks shouting on top of her voice what she had just heard on that cellphone," he continued. He added that the woman went on to notify the police at the Mbudzi Roundabout police post. "What shocked us is the fact that the mysterious voice which had been coming over the phone suddenly began emanating from the woman.

The witness explained that the woman seemed to fall into a trance and led police to the shallow grave.

"The voice then directed the police to the place saying it wanted them to come along with its relatives before the body could be exhumed."The voice asked the police to first dig on the spot to retrieve a metal object used by his attackers as assurance that his body was REALLY underground.

"Surprisingly, the metal object was found prompting the police to act according to its instructions," he said. When reporters arrived at the place at around midday, a throng of curious people were anxiously gathered at the scene expecting to witness the mystery as it unfolded. Police were already stationed at the place monitoring the movements of the crowd with the retrieved metal a few inches from where the body was said to have been buried.

Some of the investigating police details were reported to have gone to Machipisa and Lobels in a bid to locate the relatives. "The police have gone along with the woman to Machipisa where the "dead" man's relatives are believed to be staying. "It also claimed through the woman that his brother works at Lobels and he wanted him to be there.

"What made this strange is the fact that the man also said that he was aware of the whereabouts of his murderers and wanted to direct the police to where they were," said Tiwandi. Although there was no immediate confirmation from the police, sources within the police said that the woman who picked up the phone stays in Glen Norah and that the murdered man comes from Rusape.

"Investigations conducted by the police established that the woman is from Glen Norah A. "Information filtering through has it that the man who was supposedly murdered came from Rusape. "But there was no report of a missing person from nearby police stations," said the source. However, curious onlookers who had spent the whole day gathered at the place hoping to witness the exhumation process were still at the scene by last night. But the exhumation was yet to be conducted!