Father Regis Chikuni was walking across a Harare road in the early hours of 29 August when he was struck by a Honda Fit and killed, police have said.
The 58-year-old Roman Catholic priest suffered severe head injuries and fractures to both legs in the collision at the intersection of Prince Edward Road and Samora Machel Avenue. He died at the scene at about 2.40am.
Police have charged 22-year-old Sean Gamu Makoni with culpable homicide in connection with the death. Police say Makoni was driving southwards along Prince Edward Road when the Honda Fit hit the priest. He was alone in the car and is assisting police with the investigation.
The crash only became connected to the missing-person search more than a week later. Chikuni was not carrying identification documents when he was killed, and his body was taken to the mortuary at Parirenyatwa Hospital as an unidentified victim. It remained there until 9 September, when a fellow priest, Father Prince Murungweni, positively identified him.
His next of kin, Ngonidzashe Chikuni, was then notified. For the priest’s colleagues and relatives, the identification brought an end to days of uncertainty, but it also revealed that the search for him had been taking place while his body was already in a Harare hospital.
The final journey
Chikuni was last seen by colleagues before he disappeared, prompting the Catholic Church to alert its members and report the matter to police. The exact timing of his last sighting has been reported differently, but the search was under way by the time the Archdiocese of Harare began appealing for information and prayers.
The discovery at Parirenyatwa followed an accident that had initially left the victim without a name. Police said Chikuni was trying to cross Prince Edward Road when he was struck by the speeding vehicle. The impact caused injuries that proved fatal within seconds.
The Honda Fit was badly damaged. Its front bumper, left headlamp, bonnet and windscreen were affected. Police later took the vehicle to the Vehicle Inspection Department in Eastlea for examination as investigators worked to reconstruct the crash and establish the circumstances leading to the priest’s death.
The early reports described the incident as a hit-and-run because the vehicle was not at the scene when the victim was taken away. The subsequent charge against Makoni placed a named driver at the centre of the investigation. Police have not said that Chikuni was deliberately targeted, and the charge relates to the circumstances of the fatal road collision.
The case has left two timelines running side by side. The first begins with Chikuni’s last known movements and the church’s search for a missing priest. The second begins at the road junction in the early hours of 29 August, when an unidentified pedestrian was struck and taken to hospital. The two timelines met when Father Murungweni recognised the body on 9 September.
Church mourns a senior priest
The statement added: “His dedication to his pastoral duties and the impact he had on our community will forever be cherished in our hearts.”
Church officials urged Catholics to come together in prayer as they mourned a priest whose disappearance had caused concern among clergy and parishioners. A programme of prayer, Masses and burial was arranged to honour his life and ministry.
The body was scheduled to be collected on 13 September from Nyaradzo Herbert Chitepo and taken to New Highfields, Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. A Divine Office for the Dead and a Vigil Mass were due to follow, with an all-night prayer. A Requiem Mass was scheduled for 14 September before the burial at Chishawasha Cemetery.
A wider road-safety concern
Chikuni’s death comes as police continue to warn about the danger faced by pedestrians on Zimbabwe’s roads, particularly when motorists fail to stop after crashes.
Police recorded 2,081 pedestrians who were either killed or injured in hit-and-run road accidents between January and March 2026, according to figures released during a road-safety campaign. The figure was higher than the 1,905 cases recorded during the same period a year earlier. Police said the victims included schoolchildren and pedestrians crossing roads or walking near busy routes.
The police have reminded drivers involved in road crashes that they must stop, assist injured people and report the incident. They have also called on pedestrians to cross at traffic lights and other safe points where possible.
Makoni has been charged with culpable homicide, and police have said investigations are continuing. The charge follows the death of a priest whose final hours were spent alone on a city road and whose identity remained unknown in a hospital mortuary while the Church searched for him.
For Chikuni’s family, colleagues and parishioners, the search ended with the confirmation of a death that had already occurred days earlier.