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Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
A 17-YEAR-OLD pupil died on Thursday after a man who is suspected to be mentally challenged axed him without provocation.

This is the third reported gruesome killing committed by a person suspected to be mentally unstable in the southern region in two months.

Sifiso Jehovah Jubane (33) of Kenmor attacked Misumuzi Mpofu a Form Four pupil at Zwangendaba Secondary School as he was walking from school with two other pupils on Wednesday.

Witnesses said Jubane sat under a tree at Kenmor Business Centre for a long time while holding an axe.

“When pupils from Zwangendaba Secondary School passed by, he stood up and followed them,” said a witness who asked not to be named.

The pupils are said to have increased pace when they saw Jubane following them.

“Jubane suddenly gave chase. The schoolchildren ran for dear life but unfortunately he caught up with Mpofu whom he struck once in the head,” said the witness.

The pupil, said the witness, fell to the ground with blood gushing from the wound.

People at the business centre, responding to pupils’ screams, found Jubane relaxing on a rock nearby while the bloodied pupil lay unconscious.

“Jubane did not resist when villagers apprehended him. He seemed unaware that he had committed a serious crime,” said Mr Milton Moyo, who was among the first people to arrive at the scene.

Villagers rushed the pupil to St Luke’s Mission Hospital and he was immediately transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital where died on Thursday morning.

National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the murder incident.

Early this month, a 34 year old mentally challenged man from Lower Gweru allegedly strangled his mother with his bare hands before fatally axing two neighbours.

Villagers teamed up to subdue Macala Tavengwa Chituso after the gruesome killings.

He had allegedly made a hit list of six people that he wanted to kill.

Last month, a mental patient in Tsholotsho allegedly butchered a six-year-old Grade One pupil before ripping his stomach open with a knife. He then guarded the corpse.