Latest on the python dumped by woman driving a Landrover D4

An unidentified seemingly well-to-do woman yesterday morning reportedly dumped a dead python along Borrowdale Road near the race course in harare before immediately confessing that her husband had gone missing and could have been murdered.

The woman believed to be from Harare's northern suburbs was driving a Land Rover Discovery 4 and briefly parked just after Borrowdale race course and threw the reptile into the grass on the roadside. The python, which was producing a strong smell, was wrapped with a grey cloth while stashed in a sack.

Reports are that she then got back to her car and drove close to the airtime and newspaper vendors who were about ten metres away and engaged them saying she was looking for her husband whom she suspected was murdered.

"I saw the car parked about 10 metres from where I do my business and a woman disembarked. I didn't pay attention to it because I thought her car had developed a problem since she was walking around the car and had hazards on. I concentrated on my business and after a few minutes she drove and parked close to us (with my colleagues) and told us that her husband had gone missing. She said she believed he was murdered.

"She didn't give room for us to ask questions before saying 'anyway, did you see a big snake which is there' (where she first parked her car) saying she saw it while she was looking for her husband. We then rushed where she had pointed and while we were arguing on who was going to open the sack since we suspected that the snake could be alive, she then got into her car and drove off," narrated one of the eye witnesses.

Another kombi driver claimed that he saw the woman dragging the sack from the car and threw it into the grass on the roadside but failed to stop since he was in the inner lane.

"I saw her dragging the sack throwing it into the grass and I suspected something had gone wrong but I couldn't stop since I was in the inner lane. So when I came back just now I heard that there is a snake which was dropped," he said.

It took time for people to remove the reptile from the sack as people were afraid that it could be alive before another vendor whop was offered US$1 by another motorist pulled it and placed it by the roadside.

Some people concluded that the snake could be the 'dead husband' being referred to by the woman while some said the snake had, probably, been used for money spinning and had now become and problem to the woman.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority public relations officer Caroline Washaya-Moyo who was present at the scene said after their assessment, the python could have been shot in the head.

"It is damaged on the head and we believe it was shot or killed by other means but it was smashed on the head," she said.

Washaya-Moyo said her organisation is disturbed with the development since pythons are under protected species in danger of extinction in Zimbabwe.

"How can someone kill a python when it is not even poisonous? Last year we were called to rescue some of the pythons and put them to safety and now someone is killing them. We want to advise the public that it is an offence to kill a python and doing so is risking imprisonment," she added.