Mourner murdered after break from relatives’ funeral wake for beer drink
31-year-old found in pool of blood with deep cut on the head
By Auther Chimbgwa
A 31-year-old Chitungwiza man was on Sunday found dead in a suspected robbery and murder incident that happened some hours after he left a relative’s funeral wake to go and drink alcohol in a bar with a few mourners.
Lucky Hlawe was found in a pool of blood by relatives who started searching for him when he failed to rejoin them later in the night.
He had been attending the funeral of a late relative Thembinkosi Hlawe when he and a few others decided to break from the funeral wake to go and drink some alcohol at Velvet Shopping Centre in the town.
Acting police spokesperson for Harare Province Assistant Inspector Faith Mapisa confirmed Hlawe’s death.
Mapisa said Hlawe had earlier quarrelled with a bartender at the shopping centre while still in the company of fellow mourners before the group decided to abandon the area for a different one.
“They decided to go to Taita shopping Centre in the same location following the standoff,” said Mapisa. “But Lucky later left without telling others where he was going.”
On the same night at around 4 am, his relatives failed to locate him as they were leaving the bar.
As they walked the street to look for him, they saw a crowd gathered around something near Mt Moriah AFM, Unit G suburb.
When they went to investigate, they discovered their missing relative lying dead on the ground.
“At the scene of crime it was observed that the body was lying in a pool of blood,” said Mapisa.
“It had a deep cut on the left side of the head and nothing was in the pockets.”
Detectives from CID Chitungwiza police station attended the scene.
Police conveyed the body to Chitungwiza Hospital Mortuary for postmortem.
Mapisa said police have opened up an investigation into he case.
She further warned the public against taking unnecessary walks at night especially during the upcoming festive season when crimes increase.
