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Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Correspondent
A TSHOLOTSHO man pounded his neighbour’s six year-old son to death with a hammer before tying his body to a bicycle frame and ripping his stomach open with a knife.

Thereafter, Lizwe Ncube allegedly sat staring into space, next to Obvious Mkhwananzi’s mutilated body on Saturday, around 11AM.

Shell-shocked villagers said Ncube was mentally unstable. He, they said, grabbed a hammer and hit the Ntulula Primary School Grade One pupil on the head, while he was playing with friends at his (Ncube’s) homestead.

When a Chronicle news crew visited Bhukuswayi area where the incident occurred, villagers said they had never witnessed such a gruesome murder.

Obvious’s grandmother Ms Senzile Dube told The Chronicle that she blacked out after seeing her grandson who was “slaughtered like an animal.”

She said the blood curdling killing occurred while she had gone to church.

“The children came to inform me Lizwe had hurt Obvious. They didn’t tell me my grandson was dead. I rushed to the scene. I froze when I saw his bloodied body on a bicycle rack. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Ms Dube.

The granny was staying with five minor children between the ages of six to 15 including Obvious.

She said later, the children narrated the horror of watching Lizwe dismember her grandson.

“They said Lizwe first hit him on the head with a hammer. He dragged the body and tied him on a bicycle rack before ripping his stomach open with a knife,” she said.

The visibly shaken Ms Dube said she was still struggling to come to terms with what happened to her grandson.

“He (Lizwe) is mentally disturbed but we weren’t expecting him to do such a thing,” said Ms Dube.

She said the deceased boy’s mother works in South Africa.

Police arrested Lizwe and took him to Tsholotsho Police Station.

A comment could not be obtained from Acting Matabeleland North police spokesperson Sergeant Namatirai Mashona.

However, ward 10 Councillor Cde Popo Ncube said society needed to keep tabs on people suspected to be suffering from mental illness.

Cde Ncube said children should never have been left near Lizwe, considering his mental state.

He said mental patients should be kept in confined places to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

“This will curb such incidents. If they can be kept in a place to ensure safety of the members of the public, gruesome incidents like this won’t occur,” said Cde Ncube.

“Leaving children alone is a serious risk. We’ve grass-thatched houses. They can play with matches and torch huts. If such things happen, we end up saying it’s the work of witches but we just need to pay attention to children,” he said.

The incident comes at a time when the biggest mental hospital in Matabeleland, Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo is facing a critical shortage of medicines for both its in and out of hospital patients.

Three nurses have been attacked by patients this year as patients go without sedatives.

Officials at Ingutsheni Central Hospital say the drug shortage has resulted in unsustainable cases of outpatients relapsing and needing re- admission at the crowded institution. — @nqotshili.