Brothers arrested over murder of taxi driver

TWO brothers and their colleague, who assaulted a pirate taxi driver and leaving him for dead, have been arrested.

Mcremmington Hamamuti,27, Elvis Dickson,25 and Clamson Hamamuti were arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder of Itai Chiulolo,33 of Rusununguko.

The trio together with two other suspects, who are still at large, called Chiulolo, who was a pirate taxi driver and pretended to hire his vehicle to their place of residence from Downtown Wholesale, Chinhoyi.

The deceased Chiulolo drove his vehicle there. On arrival, they dragged him from his car and shoved him into their vehicle.

Mashonaland West Provincial Police spokesman, Inspector Ian Kohwera,told H- Metro, the trio drove the vehicle to a bush in the Chinhoyi Industrial area where they assaulted Chiulolo with a sjambok and sticks all over his body.

The assault on Chiulolo was a payback for allegedly assaulting Macremmington.

‘‘They took him to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital and later tried to make a police report at ZRP Central leading to their arrest,’’ said Kohwera.

He added: ‘‘The other two suspects only known as Albiot and Sam ran away after noticing that Chiulolo’s condition had deteriorated.’’

Meanwhile, Kohwera has appealed for information that can assist investigations of a murder case in which Nelson Mhlanga, 53, residing in Chinhoyi was found dead at a footpath in Mzari low Density suburb on July 28.

One of the co-owners of Zvakanaka Butchery, where Mhlanga worked who refused to be identified told H- Metro that they had knocked off work around 8pm on Sunday.

‘‘After we had closed the butchery, Mhlanga then went away in the direction of the shopping centre

‘‘I thought as someone who drinks beer, he wanted to chill out before going home.

‘‘However, the following day, he did not report for duty and we went to his house. At first, I thought maybe he had been arrested for public drinking,’’he said.

He said they later went to the police and were told that there was a man who had been found dead, and it turned out that it was Mhlanga.

A bottle of the illicit beer was found in one of his pockets.

Kohwera said Mhlanga’s body had stab wounds on the left upper hand and on the right groin.

He said the body was conveyed to Chinhoyi hospital for a post- mortem.

‘‘Police Mashonaland West is greatly concerned with the number of murder cases in the province with most of them emanating from domestic disputes and petty issues,’’ said Kohwera.

He added: ‘‘People must respect the sanctity of life and find possible ways to avoid conflicts leading to loss of life,’’ said Kohwera.

He appealed to anyone with information that can assist police with investigations to approach any nearest police station.

Herald