A 21-year-old gold panner from Gokwe South reportedly fatally axed his own father and brother accusing them of bewitching him, the Chronicle reports. Alster Chikafa killed his brother Alfred, who was trying to restrain him after he started attacking their father who later on died in hospital from the injuries he sustained during Alster’s violent tantrums.
The accused reportedly also set a neighbour’s hut on fire and axed his father’s own oxen first before he committed the heinous crime. Sources that spoke to the publication about the incident said:
Alster was shouting that he wanted to kill more people. Many villagers were involved in the scuffle to subdue him before handing him over to the police.
He had recently returned from his gold panning in Mazowe. He accused his father of bewitching him causing him to lead a life of poverty despite making a lot of money from gold panning.
He dashed to his neighbour, Nyaradzai Nduna’s homestead and set fire to his bedroom hut. He was shouting that Nduna would die because he owes him a lot of money and had cheated him as they shared proceeds from their gold panning.
He said he wanted to finish him off and called him the devil’s agent.After the attack, Mr Chikafa who was bleeding profusely, staggered to a neighbour’s homestead where he sought help. Alfred tried to calm down his brother but Alster struck him five times on the head and he died on the spot
Police in Gokwe confirmed the incident, the duo was buried on Saturday in their home village.
More: The Chronicle