Man found dead after booze binge brawl

A MAN (61) was found dead at his friend's house yesterday morning after having spent the previous night drinking there, before a fight broke out, but circumstances leading to his alleged murder remain a mystery.

Public Ncube and Japhet Mathe were friends and neighbours in Luveve suburb, Bulawayo.

The two were last heard by neighbours playing music together with Zimbili Tshili another friend from Gwabalanda suburb before the fight, only for Ncube's body to be found yesterday, with no visible marks or traces of blood.

Neighbours said no-one bothered to intervene in the fight or check who was being attacked on Sunday night as it was the norm for the three friends to fight when drunk.

Mathe and Tshili were allegedly taken by police for questioning.

When The Chronicle news crew arrived at the scene, police had already taken the body to a mortuary.

A family spokesperson, Mr Mike Ncube, who is also the deceased's son said his family was in a state of shock following his father's sudden death.

He said Mathe approached them yesterday morning and informed them that he had found Ncube dead in his yard, but was not sure of what had happened to him.

Mr Ncube, however, said tenants at the house told him that Mathe, his father and another man had been involved in a fight the previous night.

He said the three men were friends and they always fought when drunk.

"We are shocked as a family. We never thought that their drunken fights would end up in tragedy.

"They were friends and they always drank beer together. Most people knew them as beer buddies and they were always jovial," he said.

Mr Ncube said police told them that they had since opened a murder investigation.

"The police said a post mortem will be done tomorrow (today) and we will get the results of the autopsy probably the day  after. However, they said that in the meantime they were treating this death as a murder and were investigating," said Mr Ncube.

Neighbours who spoke to The Chronicle said Mathe and Ncube had been friends for a long time and frequented local beer spots together.

Sometimes they fought while drunk but no one thought that it could end in death, a neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

She said when they went to Mathe's house, they found Ncube's body on the platform of the verandah.

"He was very close to the living room door and he looked like someone who had been pushed out of the door," she said.

Tenants who live at Mathe's house, who refused to be identified said he and Ncube came from a beer hall together with another friend, Tshili, at around 9PM after having earlier attended a funeral.

"They arrived at around 9PM and started drinking with Mathe. A fight broke out at around 11PM, but it was difficult to establish what was going on as the volume of their radio was too loud, as always.

"The volume was turned down at around 3AM and we were shocked to find Ncube dead in the morning," said a tenant.

Neighbours said yesterday morning that Mathe first went to call Tshili and when they came back together, that is when he informed them that his neighbour had died at his house.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango could not be immediately reached for comment.