16-year-old rapes cousin, chops body into pieces

In a grisly act of murder which left the community of Siamputeni Village 44, Chishizya area under Chief Sinamagonde in Binga, Matabeleland North Province shocked, a 16-year-old boy is alleged to have raped his 17-year-old cousin before brutally killing her.

It is alleged that he went on to chop her head and left limb with an axe before removing pieces of flesh with a knife from her back, right thigh, and abdomen, leaving the intestines exposed.

After the brutal attack, he allegedly pulled the dismembered body to the edge of a maize field where he dumped it. In his warned and cautioned statement to the police, the teenager admitted to the murder, claiming he committed it after the girl threatened to report him to her mother for alleged sexual abuse. According to a document in possession of Sunday News, the boy confessed under interrogation to raping his cousin after watching pornography.

Asked why he allegedly killed her, he said: "I did this after watching pornography on my phone. I forced the deceased to have sexual intercourse with me.  "Then I murdered her using an axe. I beheaded her because some people told me they wanted a human head and leg in Kwekwe, where I used to live so that they could give me money."

The scene describes how the deceased's head and left lower limb were found on the ground near the footpath, approximately 10 meters from the body. A piece of flesh, believed to be from the deceased's abdomen, was also located on the same footpath, roughly 30 meters away. However, the flesh from the right thigh was not found.

It was a gruesome sight as blood was splattered all over the place. Further gory details emerged when the boy appeared before Binga resident magistrate Mr. Victor Mpofu facing two counts of rape and one of murder. He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to 11 March.

Remanding the teenager, Mr. Mpofu said it was the most brutal attack "he had ever seen".  The State as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Quiet Mpofu was that on 26 February around midday, the boy and her cousin were at their homestead. The accused was watching videos on his mobile phone while sleeping in one of the bedrooms, and the now-deceased was also sleeping on the veranda.

The court heard that the two had a misunderstanding over a phone, which resulted in the accused smashing the deceased's cell phone. Following the altercation, the girl went to sleep in the house. The accused, who had been reportedly watching pornographic videos, subsequently followed and grabbed her before ripping off her clothes and then raped her.

After being sexually abused the deceased went to sleep on the veranda again and she told the accused person that she intended to report the matter to her mother. In a fit of rage, the accused person took an axe and allegedly struck the deceased once on the neck thereby killing her instantly, and thereafter he chopped off her head and left lower limb using the axe.
He subsequently took the knife and cut off a piece of flesh from the deceased's buttocks, and right thigh and removed a piece of flesh from the abdomen leaving intestines protruding.

The court was further told that the accused took the head and left leg, placing them approximately 10 meters from the body. He then discarded the flesh into the edge of the maize field. The accused took the knife and washed it before leaving it on the veranda. He then left. He was arrested while attempting to cross nearby Chizarira National Park, the court heard.

Source - The Sunday News