Ex-soldier arrested over four sisters' killing

POLICE have arrested an ex-soldier suspected to have killed four sisters with an axe before burning their bodies in a bedroom hut in Chirima village in Gokwe South.

Midlands acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende yesterday declined to comment on the issue, saying she was yet to verify the arrest.

Dube allegedly killed the four siblings, Peculiar (4), Princess (13), Preference (15) and Progress (19) in a fit of anger on August 18.

A family spokesperson, Mr Moffat Dlomo, said police arrested Dingilizwe Dube, the son-in-law to the parents of the deceased four girls.

He said police ambushed Dube at his hideout at Queens Mine in Inyathi following a tip-off from members of the public who had read about the cold- blooded killing in The Chronicle.

"Inyathi police station handed him over to Gokwe police and the last time I last heard of him he was in police cells in Gokwe," said Mr Dlomo.

Family members told The Chronicle that Dube left the army under unclear circumstances around 2008.

They said it was not the first time he had been violent towards his in-laws as he had disembowelled his ex-wife's brother in South Africa, soon after he left the army.

"He stabbed Mr Kopano Gumede and left his intestines hanging in a fight after his ex-wife Nomusa Gumede left him and fled to South Africa. Kopano is Nomusa's brother. He is lucky to be alive after the incident," said a family member who preferred anonymity.

The family member said Dube's present wife, Ms Priviledge Ndlovu's siblings were killed after she fled from his homestead with their two children.

"He seemed to have deserted his wife of five years when he went to South Africa. His family was literally starving. Dube's father gave Priviledge sorghum and advised her to brew beer for sale. Dube heard about it and threatened to kill her for disrespecting him," said the family member.

Ms Ndlovu, the family member said, took her children and fled from the homestead as she knew from past experience how violent her husband could be.

The family member said Dube sent a message to his wife's family saying he would kill people if they did not tell him where she had gone to.

"He fulfilled his threat when no one responded," said the family member.

The arrest, villagers said, had brought relief in the area.

"We were all living in fear, especially after hearing that Dube sent a message to his in-laws threatening to kill more people on the day the four siblings were buried," said a villager who asked not to be named.

"He is an ex-soldier who fought in the DRC and we feared he would use his special training to kill everyone who had spoken against his evil deed at the burial on Wednesday last week."

The Dube family allegedly confessed last Thursday afternoon that their son killed the girls and approached the Dlomo family to negotiate compensation and avoid uzimu (avenging spirits).

Mr Dlomo said the Dube family had not shown seriousness in fulfilling their promises of paying 48 beasts to appease avenging spirits.

"They approached us to negotiate a payment and we demanded 48 beasts but they have not come back ever since. It is their own problem, if they do not meet the family demands then uzimu will be upon them," said Mr Dlomo.

He said the family was relieved that police had arrested Dube.

Dube, he said, had sent a chilling message on the day the four sisters were buried, saying he was waiting for the family to fill up the graves before he killed more people.

"We have not been able to sleep because of his threats. We were afraid that he was going to come back for us. He sent my brother a message that he would be done after killing my brother and his wife, then commit suicide. We have been living in fear. Now we will have some decent sleep," said Mr Dlomo.

Dube, who was the Dlomos' son-in-law, allegedly brutally murdered the four sisters and cut tendons on the hind legs of the family's herd of eight cattle with an axe.

The family was forced to slaughter the herd.

When her husband finally came for her, Ms Ndlovu managed to escape, leaving her siblings at his mercy.

Mr Dlomo said Dube first axed the four sisters and burnt their bodies, but a post-mortem has since revealed they were not beheaded as the family earlier believed.