The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
WHAT drove Regimond “Regis” Ruza, the 20 year-old Bindura man who murdered his own mother, drank her blood and mutilated her corpse, to commit such a shockingly evil deed?
This is a question that up to now still boggles the minds of many people.
Born and bred at Trojan Mine, those that knew Regis described him as adorable, quiet and well-mannered.
The young lad was born in a family of four.
Neighbours described him as a “darling” of the family, who had a strong bond and affection for Dorcas Chigudhu, the same mother that he went on to butcher in broad daylight last week.
Close sources said Regis, who had very few friends, had a supposedly normal relationship with his father.
When the patriarch was not at work, the pair, according to neighbours, often drove around and also worked on the family’s welding business.
After brutally murdering his mother, Regis turned the killer knife on himself, inflicting serious injuries that later on claimed his life.
Neighbours and relatives said Regis never had alcohol, drug or substance abuse issues.
But why would a seemingly normal young man suddenly turn into a beast and murder the same person that neighbours and relatives claim he so dearly loved?
Could this not be a typical case of “wafa wanaka (the dead become good)”?
Regis’ father Dennis is still seeking answers, close to a week after he buried-side-by-side, both his dear wife and son at the nearby Trojan Cemetery.
“Honestly speaking, I do not know what pushed my son to kill his mother. I never had the chance to speak with him after he committed the murder. This is disturbing,” he said.
He, however, suspects that his son might have had a misunderstanding with his mother over car keys.
“When I came home after being called from work, I noticed that the car doors had been opened. The car keys are still missing up to this day. Unfortunately, no-one, besides the deceased, know exactly what happened on the day,” the clearly distraught Dennis said.
He, however, said that the first question that his superiors at worked asked when they came to the crime scene was whether his son was abusing drugs and other harmful substances.
Contrary to Dennis’ assertion that all was well within the family on the day when Regis went berserk, Agnes Dzidzi, the neighbour who witnessed part of the brutal killing, told a different story.
“I was very close to Madzimai Dorcas. She was actually a distant relative. On the day that the tragedy happened, she confided in me that Regis was behaving strangely. I advised her to take him to hospital. She took him to a prophet instead,” narrated Dzidzi.
According to Dzidzi, all hell broke loose when the duo returned from the prophet later in the day.
She gave a horrendous account of how she came face-to-face with the raging Regis as he stabbed his own mother to death.
“When the two came back from the healing session, I spoke to both of them as they prepared and ate their lunch. To me, all was well. However, moments later, I heard faint screams and distress calls coming from the Ruza residence and rushed to investigate,” explained Dzidzi.
What she witnessed will likely haunt her for the rest of her life.
“I ran up to the verandah and what I saw was disturbing to say the least. Regis was holding a kitchen knife and was continuously stabbing his mother on the legs, back, stomach, everywhere. His mother pleaded with me to save her life.”
A trail of blood showed that Regis had dragged his mother from the living room to the verandah.
Dzidzi said Regis did not respond when she asked her what he was doing to her mother.
“I think he was possessed. He was not the same Regis that I know. He just stood there staring at me. Beside him lay a steel rod and when he picked up the rod, I ran away from the scene to try and alert other neighbours,” narrated Dzidzi.
She said that, strangely, most of the Ruza family’s neighbours were not at home that afternoon.
Efforts to get a comment from the prophet were fruitless as he was said to have returned to his Mount Darwin home.
After rushing to a nearby police base and returning with two armed police officers, Dzidzi was to further witness what reads like a horror movie script.
“She was now bleeding from the head, nose, mouth and ears. It was obvious that she had been bludgeoned on the head by the steel rod. When she saw me, she whispered that she was dying and that I was going to remain without a friend. She then passed on.”
The large group of people that had gathered watched helplessly as the strongly-built Regis licked his mother’s blood and slashed some portions of her flesh which he put into a pot.
He then stabbed himself twice on the left hand, resulting in blood gushing out.
After resisting arrest and wrestling with the police, Regis was finally apprehended. This was after the police shot into the air to scare him.
As he was being led away, Regis, who was bleeding profusely, is alleged to have shouted that more mysterious deaths were to befall the Muza family in the future.
He later on died after being admitted, for a second time, at Bindura Provincial Hospital.
The Ruza family insisted that this is the first time that one of their own has behaved in such a weird manner.
“This is the first time for such a thing to happen within our family. We are certainly going to consult both traditional healers and prophets so that we get to the bottom of all this,” Everson Ruza, an elder brother to Regis’ father, said.
Locals, however, insisted that Regis’ sister Angeline, at one time experienced mental health issues that nearly ended her marriage.
“You heard it from the elders. We do not have such a history in our family. People always say what they want,” Angeline, who was responding to the allegations, said.
Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Inspector Milton Mundembe could not give a conclusive answer regarding Regis’ odd behaviour.
The police indicated that they were not going to pursue finding out if Regis committed the crime under the influence of alcohol or drugs since such information was only relevant if he was going to stand trial.
“From the way he behaved, we suspect that he might have been under the influence of drugs. But the community says he was not into drugs and locals believe that he was possessed by evil spirits. As police, we are not competent to talk about evil spirits. We leave that to traditional healers,” Inspector Mundembe said.
According to the Ruza family, post mortems revealed that the two died due to excessive bleeding.
The medical experts who attended to Regis could, however, not shed much light.
Dr Batsirai Gwagwa, the Bindura Provincial Hospital medical superintendent only confirmed that Regis was treated and died at the hospital.
“He was treated here. I cannot, however, talk much about the kind of injuries and what might have prompted him to act the way he did.”
“For me to talk about such things, I must first get consent from the deceased’s family. We are also waiting for the results of the post mortem which will determine the cause of death,” Dr Gwagwa said.
Dr Mertha Mothema Nyamande, an integrative psychologist said Regis’ behaviour might have been a result of a culmination of a gradual build-up.
“Some people bottle up their emotions and then later on explode. In this case, we need to get a little bit of information on the family background, on how the boy interacted with his family and so on. Once we get such information, we will then be able to come up with a much better analysis of this case,” Dr Nyamande said.
Pastor Allen Chigovera of the House of Prayer Ministries attributed unpredictable violent behaviour to the works of the devil.
“In the case of the Bindura man, he was clearly influenced by the devil. The devil is there to kill, maim and to destroy,” Pastor Chigovera said.
Gogo Mamoyo (real name Letwin Manguwo), a Chitungwiza-based traditional healer said avenging spirits are capable of influencing people to become violent and to subsequently kill.
“This case is an obvious case of avenging spirits influencing an individual to kill. This young man had no intention to kill his mother. Avenging spirits pushed him to commit murder,” Gogo Mamoyo said.
Trojan Mine residents, who are still in shock, are begging for answers.
“We don’t know what drove him into killing his own mother. I am afraid that either evil spirits or Satanists have descended on this community. I am scared,” Maud Murwisi, a local, said.
For a long time to come, Trojan Mine residents will be wondering what might have fuelled this barbaric act by a supposedly well-mannered man.
This is a secret that the two departed are going to keep to themselves as they lie side-by-side in their graves.
