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Constable Norest Kuvarega in hospital

Walter Mswazie, Masvingo Correspondent
A POLICEMAN from Zvishavane is battling for life in hospital after five knife-wielding men stabbed him and disarmed him of his service rifle in a suspected bid to steal public examination papers at a school in Gutu.

The incident occurred on Monday at around 12:50AM.

Constable Norest Kuvarega (31) of Buchwa’s police support unit had been deployed to Mpandawana High School in Gutu to guard Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) examination material, said a source.

His attackers allegedly struck him with a stone on the head, stabbed on him on the cheek and tried to strangle him.  They left him for dead, tied to a desk at the school.

Investigators allegedly found the rifle along a footpath about 500 metres from the scene.

Its magazine was still fully loaded.

It was not clear yesterday how the assailants escaped the detection of two other cops who were on guard duty with Cst Kuvarega.

Zimsec Masvingo regional manager Silvanos Dandira could not be reached for comment yesterday.

However, sources said the robbers who were also armed with knobkerries and hammers intended to steal O- and A-Level examination question papers at the school.

“They were indications that the locks to the administration block’s door were tampered with,” said a school official who declined to be named.

“Const Kuvarega was on duty with Constables Urayayi and Matindike.

“Just after midnight Const Kuvarega carried some checks around the perimeter fence but within the school premises before returning to his point of guard. On his way back he was struck with a stone on the head and before he could figure out what had happened, five men grabbed him and started throttling him from behind,” said the source.

The source said Const Kuvarega fought the men when they tried to take his gun and they stabbed him on the left cheek and upper lip.

“The men struck him all over the body using a hammer and knobkerries before disarming him,” said another source.

The quintet allegedly tied Const Kuvarega to a desk using tree fibres before fleeing.

“He managed to untie himself after a few minutes and alerted his colleagues. A report was made to the police who attended the scene and observed that the five suspects had tampered with the locks to the school’s administration block back door apparently to break in,” said the source.

“The firearm was found dumped along a dust road about 500 metres from the scene with its fully loaded magazine. Indications were that the suspects had urinated on it and sprinkled soil on the gun, apparently to erase fingerprints.”

Efforts to get a comment from police national spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi were fruitless as his mobile rang unanswered.

@walterbmswazie2