the two seven-year-old cousins killed last week on their way home from school in central Mutasa are suspected to have been murdered by their uncle who allegedly tried to throw search parties off the scent by giving false information as the community mobilised to find the missing children.
Dilan and Melissa Benza were killed at an abandoned homestead halfway on the direct 4km route between Mbaza Primary School and their home. Their bodies, with deep neck cuts and throats slit, were dumped in a disused toilet. Search parties followed a trail of blood found at the homestead when searching the day after the killings.
While initial reports suggested the bodies were intact, there are now suspicions that blood was extracted and that some body parts could have been taken.
Solomon Manyau (48) is a maternal uncle to Dilan, and a member of Mbaza Primary School’s School Development Committee. He emerged as the prime suspect because when the searches started on the afternoon of Tuesday last week he allegedly said he had last seen the children near the Kavhuru homestead about 4km from the school, and then later changed his story and said he had last seen them near the school looking for wild fruits, hubva or tsubvu.
Although Manyau was the first to be picked up, police then wanted to talk to Passmore Sambaza, thought to be the last person seen with the children. But he allegedly tried to flee the area and was reportedly picked near London Stores as he was leaving.
Manyau and Sambaza are expected to appear in court today (Wednesday) for initial remand.
Whoever killed the small children took advantage of the overgrown surroundings of the abandoned Sambaza homestead.
The tall grass gave the murderers enough cover to execute their mission without drawing any attention from passers-by.
Although post-mortem results are still to be given, Melissa’s father, Mr Douglas Benza, believes that the children were killed for rituals. He said some people who had close scrutiny of the two children’s bodies moments after being retrieved from the Blair toilet where they had been thrown, said some body parts were missing.
Source: Herald