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From Walter Mswazie recently in Triangle
THE Triangle woman and her five-month-old son who were found dead on Monday last week had their heads crushed while her mouth was stuffed with semen-stained panties, her family has said.An Okapi knife was found at the bloody murder scene with several footprints in the vicinity indicating that the woman tried to wrestle her assailant.

It is suspected that Vimbai Taruvinga Bande, 30, of Crown Ranch Village 2 and her son

Tinomutenda Mapfumo, were killed after she was raped in a nearby bush where she had gone to fetch firewood. Chronicle visited the family on Friday.

They said they suspect their daughter and grandchild were bludgeoned with the back of an axe.

Bande’s husband, Aaron Mapfumo, 33, said he was away in Harare to look for employment when tragedy struck.

“A neighbour, Samuel Machiri, phoned me while I was in Harare where I had gone to look for employment. He told me that my wife had not returned from fetching firewood and the whole village was searching for her together with our five- month-old baby,” said a tearful Mapfumo. “Firstly I thought she had gone to Village 14 with her sister since Machiri told me that she had accompanied her on the fateful day but I got confused the following day when I called a close relative on Saturday and was told she had not been seen yet.”

Mapfumo said he quickly looked for bus fare and travelled back home on Monday and “got shocked to find mourners gathered” at his home.

Bande’s uncle, Pedzisai Masvasvuke, said the family was still trying to come to terms with the tragedy.

“She was buried yesterday (Thursday) and most villagers who helped search for my daughter and her baby were here. They managed to locate the two bodies the following day at around 6AM,” narrated Masvasvuke. “Their heads were crushed while the mother’s hands were lacerated suggesting she could have attempted to resist rape. She also had semen on her privates. The assailant also stuffed semen-stained panties in her mouth to stop her from making noise.”

He said the two bodies were lying in a pool of blood about 500m from a bundle of firewood.

The family believes the suspect, who is on the run, is a local person after noting that one of the male villagers who was coincidentally spotted in the same bush that day has since disappeared.

“While we can’t point fingers at anyone because of the laws of the land, we are quite sure that the person who killed my daughter is a resident of this village,” added Masvasvuke.

“There is a man, who on the day of the tragedy was cutting firewood in the same bush where my daughter and baby were found dead. Coincidentally, the man has not been seen in the village since that day.”

He said the family was puzzled by the fact that the axe, which the suspected man is said to have been using to cut firewood, was also missing from the homestead where he lived with a relative.

“We ask police to take the leads from villagers and family members seriously. I don’t have any problems with my son-in-law or the whole of the Mapfumo family,” said Masvasvuke.

“They approached us with the news of the tragedy and we asked them to pay us three beasts to which they positively responded but generally we don’t have any problem with them. We take this as a tragedy and will not capitalise on death as both of us are in mourning.”