MUFAKOSE – A 22-year-old man from Mufakose has been arrested after allegedly murdering his mother and severely injuring his five-year-old niece in a horrific attack on Wednesday.
Nyasha Bandawe is accused of fatally stabbing his 59-year-old mother, Hilda Drawu, following an argument at their home along Mutengeni Lane in Mufakose. Harare provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Luckmore Chakanza, confirmed the details of the gruesome crime.
According to police reports, Bandawe stabbed his mother 19 times on the neck and twice on the right hand. After the attack, he attempted to conceal her body by dragging it under a bed and locking the bedroom door.
Bandawe then turned his rage on his brother’s five-year-old daughter, an Early Childhood Development (ECD) pupil, who was in the dining room. He stabbed her five times on the neck with a screwdriver before fleeing the scene.
Inspector Chakanza detailed the events that followed: “He went to the dining room where a minor child was seated, took a screwdriver, stabbed her five times on the neck and left.”
The child’s cries for help alerted neighbours, who contacted her father. “Neighbours heard the noise and they called the father who quickly rushed home and upon his arrival he found the dining room door closed,” Inspector Chakanza explained. “He opened the door and saw the minor child lying on the floor, screaming in agony, with five stabbed wounds on the neck and bleeding profusely.”
The injured child was able to tell her father about her grandmother’s body hidden under the bed. “The minor informed the father about the body hidden under the bed,” said Inspector Chakanza.
The young girl was immediately rushed to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, where she is currently admitted for treatment.
Police recovered the screwdriver, believed to be the murder weapon, from the scene. “Police arrested a Mufakose man for murder,” said Insp Chakanza. “The accused person pushed the body of the deceased under the bed and locked the bedroom door.”
Bandawe remains in police custody, and investigations are ongoing.
