Man slaughters uncle, cooks and eats body

WEIRD! How else can one describe an incident where a 38-year-old Hwange man allegedly gruesomely murdered his 62-year-old uncle, dismembered his body, cooked and ate the remains while hanging the intestines and some of the parts on a tree to dry.

The incident happened last month in the remote village of Dinde in Hwange district and police in Matabeleland North province have confirmed it.

Police spokesperson for Matabeleland North province Inspector Glory Banda said the gory incident occurred last month and the accused person — Wished Mumpande (38) had since been arrested and has already appeared in court facing a murder charge. The case is still pending.

Insp Banda said Mumpande of Chigona Village, Chief Nekatambe, Hwange allegedly butchered his uncle Fida Stephen Mumpande (62) of Bhale Village, Chief Nekatambe, dismembered his body, cooked part of his remains and allegedly ate them while leaving some parts to dry on a tree in the forest.

The accused was found in the Gandwe Hills with a pot of cooked meat, by a search team that was looking for Fida who had left his homestead three days prior to go and prepare his fields along Gwayi River.

The search team comprising of Given Mumpande, Maboli Sibanda and Albert Munkuli were following Fida's shoeprints.

On discovering the pot with cooked meat on top of the hill, the three suspected that the meat could be remains of Fida and after a further search close to where the pot was, they found dismembered body parts scattered around.

"The now deceased Fida is said to have left his homestead on the 17th of July to go and prepare his fields along Gwayi River and he didn't come back.

"Realising that his father had not returned, his son Given teamed up with Sibanda and Munkuli and decided to look for him.

And on the 20th of July they found his remains in the Gandwe Hills with some having been cooked by the accused," said Insp Banda.

He said the trio discovered the deceased's clothes and intestines placed on a tree to dry. A few metres away, they discovered pieces of the deceased's right arm placed on a tree branch.

"A further search around the area led to further discoveries of the deceased's left arm, backbone,  legs and the head which was cut into pieces.

The men also discovered a thigh cut into pieces that hanged loosely on each other placed on a tree branch.

Insp Banda said it was at that time that the accused, armed with an axe, came to where the pot was.

The trio managed to apprehend the accused and recovered the axe and the pot.

The matter was reported to the police in Hwange and the scene was jointly attended to by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Homicide Division, Hwange police and Kamativi police who arrested the accused.

Some villagers said they suspected the killer has a mental illness.