Man hangs at church

Residents of the populous Mucheke Suburb in Masvingo were left speechless when a 27-year-old man hung himself in a building at the 12 Apostles Church.

Allan Mutimusakwa hung himself as his mother, friend Fortune Magedhe, a Police officer and Magedhe's wife Dudzai Shadreck stood close by the door and desperately pleaded with the deceased who had locked himself inside to stop killing himself.

Magedhe confirmed the incident in an interview with The Mirror and said he arrived at the Church where Mutimusakwa worked as a security guard at around midnight after the deceased called him and informed him about his intention to hang himself.

Magedhe said he passed on the message to Mutimusakwa's mother and then collected the Police officer to go to the scene. When he arrived at the guardroom with the Police officer he found out that Mutimusakanda had locked himself inside and called him to open the door.

"When I called out to him to open the door, he thanked me for coming and said I had done well. He however then said it was too late for his life to be served for he was already taking his life. I tried to dissuade him and wait for me to come in but everything went quiet and by the time we managed to break the door, he was dead.

"His mother arrived within three minutes and the whole tragedy happened in her presence," said Magedhe.

Masvingo Police spokesperson Charity Mazula confirmed the story. She however, said he deceased did not give any reasons for taking his life.

Magedhe who has been a close friend to the deceased said he had been together with Mutimusakwa that Saturday evening. The deceased had promised to introduce his new girlfriend who stays in West to Magedhe the next day.

However, at around 11:46pm the deceased called while crying and asked Magedhe to call back. When he did, that is when he disclosed his intention to kill himself.

"Mukoma ndatambura kwenguva yakarebesa munozviziva imi. (My brother I have suffered for long and you know it)", he said before I urged him to put on hold his plans as I was coming to see him.

When I was at the door he said, "Mukoma magona mauya ndava kuenda (You have done well by coming but am now going)".

There was some noise in the room, he screamed and the place fell quiet, said Magedhe.

Magedhe dismissed allegations that Mutimusakwa was sexually abused by a relative.

"That is all hogwash. Mutimusakanda loved his mother. He lived for her, he loved his sisters and he was a bread winner for the family. Every time he was always talking about his failure to look after his mother," said Magedhe.

He said the deceased was a person who wanted to do well in life. He said together they tried a number of business ideas including taking pictures and doing photocopying but that all came to naught.

"My friend was a man who wanted to do well in life. He wanted to look after his mother and siblings. He wanted a good marriage and a family and he would ask me if ever the two of us would drive a car one day," said Magedhe.