The Sunday Mail
In a highly emotional interview, she chronicled how on March 25, a seemingly friendly stranger walked her to work and then nearly killed her.
Alois Tapuwa Nduna (26), the incarcerated blood-sucking serial killer and rapist, is arguably Zimbabwe’s most prolific serial killer.
Suspected of killing 12 women and sucking their blood, Nduna, who also used many aliases, among them Jackson Moyo, traversed the breadth and width of the country, raping, killing and sucking the blood of his victims.
In most of the chronicled cases involving serial killers, the murderers often believe that God or Satan, or strange voices, will be instructing them to kill. Medical research has often concluded that most serial killers might have suffered some kind of trauma or that they might be having a mental illness like schizophrenia.
In a recorded confession, Nduna claimed to be a satanist who raped, killed and sucked the blood of his victims as part of satanic rituals that made him “stronger”.
Last week, The Sunday Mail Extra crew travelled to Mvuma where the feared murderer robbed, killed and attempted to kill two other innocent women. Three of the serial killer’s victims are reeling from the effects of the serial killer’s aggression.
Hopes and dreams have been shattered, the victims are all suffering from trauma whilst one of the man who was initially suspected of being the “vampire killer” lost his job.
Shop worker Gladius Gwasunda was viciously attacked and nearly killed by Nduna, whilst Chido Rimiremoto, the sex worker who had a “fling” with the killer, is now shunned by the community and has often contemplated taking her own life.
Ronald Nhamburo was arrested and spent three cold nights in remand prison after he was first suspected of being the killer. Nhamburo has since lost his job and is emotionally stressed.
A close shave with death
Tall, slim and beautiful, the 22-year-old Gladius Gwasunda could easily pass for a top model. Blessed with a ready smile, the mother of a two-year-old boy had plans of one day going to university to study business management.
Described by neighbours as an outgoing and friendly person, Gladius is now a pale shadow of her former self. Strangled and nearly killed by Nduna in broad daylight, the effects of the gruesome attack are there for everyone who knew her before the attack to see.
Now a virtual recluse, she now spends most of her time indoors, locking herself away from the outside world that harbours dangerous criminals like Nduna.
When alone, the events of the day in which her life was nearly smothered always come back to haunt her. She is no longer comfortable around men and has since shelved plans of one day going to university.
In a highly emotional interview, she chronicled how on March 25, a seemingly friendly stranger walked her to work and then nearly killed her.
“I was walking to work as usual and when I was near a bushy area, a man coming from the opposite direction politely asked me whether I had seen a man wearing a T-shirt. When I told him I had not, he went in the direction he had come from before making a sudden U-turn,” Gladius narrated.
She said the stranger told her that he had decided to go back to where he was coming from to search for his friend. The stranger, according to Gwasunda, was polite and well-mannered and could easily strike a conversation. Unknown to her, the seemingly polite stranger had a wicked plan and was only waiting for the right moment and opportunity to strike. The opportunity came and the polite gentleman transformed himself into an evil, blood thirsty attacker.
“As a haulage truck was passing by, I was commenting on the driver of the truck, who was a woman. She was confidently steering the truck and as I was concentrating on the truck, the stranger suddenly grabbed me by the throat and tripped me to the ground,” Gladius said.
What then followed was a harrowing 30-minute ordeal in which she bravely fought for her life. In a do-or-die encounter, Gladius wrestled with the maniac whose sole intention was to choke life out of her.
“I pleaded with him to spare my life and take the phones and money I had in my handbag. The attacker would not relent. Instead, he scooped a handful of soil and shoved it down my throat. He also bit two of my fingers, nearly severing them. The grip on my throat was tightening and I felt I was losing the battle,” added Gladius, who works as a till operator in a supermarket. Blood oozed out of her mouth. Gladius believed a miracle took place as she was about to surrender her life.
“I prayed silently and flashed a wristband in the attacker’s face. The attacker, who by now had dragged me into a bush, suddenly let go. Two men appeared from nowhere and the attacker ran into the bush,” she said.
She strongly believes that were it not for the wristband, she would have died that morning.
“That evil man wanted nothing but my life. If he wanted to rape me, he would have succeeded since I was wearing a skirt and it was going to be easy for him. He also tried, on several occasions, to reach out for something which was in his pockets,” Gladius added. According to Gladius, the wristband belonged to a workmate and she said it was strange that she had initially decided against wearing it that morning. She said something inside her kept telling her to put it on as she prepared to go to work.
The body of Priviledge Mutara, a milk vendor whom Nduna confessed to killing, was found some few metres from where Gladius had been brutally attacked.
Despite the fact that Gladius escaped death by a whisker, she bravely had the guts to joke about the horrific incident with a neighbour despite the trauma.
“Ndisu tichafa here? (Do you think I am ever going to die?) I should have died that day. I promise, I will die a very, very old woman,” Gladius said, hiding sadness behind a smile.
Sex worker in dilemma
Although she says she still regards the serial killer and rapist as a “good man”, Chido Rimiremoto, the sex worker who had an affair with the self-confessed satanist, is in a dilemma.
“Although he was good to me and my children, I do not want anything to do with him. Even if he is cleared of all the charges, I will not welcome him back into this house. I am suffering now because of him,” Rimiremoto said.
Besides spending three nights in police cells after the phone that she had been given by the killer was traced back to a murder victim, the community is now shunning her. Even her friends have since deserted her. She now spends most of her time indoors and at one time she entertained thoughts of committing suicide. Where it not for her mother who came all the way from her rural home in Chirumhanzu to be with her during the difficult times, Chido says she would have committed suicide by now.
The sex worker’s “business” has also been drastically affected by the turn of events.
“Men are now afraid of me since they now think that I am a satanist and killer. Prostitution is my only source of living. I don’t know why this happened to me,” she said.
Her two children have since dropped out of school and she is also failing to pay her rentals.
Chido is planning to leave Mvuma and start a new life elsewhere.
However, she has a wish.
“I wish I could come to Harare and see the famous prophet. He is the only person who can pick me out of this very dark pit. The problem is that I do not have money to travel to Harare,” she mourned.
Caught in the crossfire
Ronald Nhamburo (27), will forever regret the day he walked into a local supermarket to buy groceries.
As she stepped into the supermarket, Gladius Gwasunda, the woman who had survived a brutal attack by an unknown person, immediately noticed some similarities between Nhamburo and the person who had attacked and nearly killed her.
The following day, police knocked at Nhamburo’s door and the father-of-one was whisked away to the local police station on allegations of attempted murder. After spending three days in remand prison, Nhamburo was finally released on bail.
Although Nduna confessed to the crime, Nhamburo still has to be cleared by the courts. He will appear in court on Tuesday.
Gwasunda still insists that it was Nhamburo who tried to kill her.
“Remember, he attacked me in broad daylight and he never made efforts to conceal his identity. I wrestled him for close to 30 minutes. He is the one,” Gwasunda insisted.
Maintaining that he is a victim of mistaken identity, Nhamburo’s life has never been the same again.
“My own wife is now afraid of me. My former friends have deserted me and wherever I go, people point fingers at me. Last time children fled when they came across me in town,” Nhamburo said.
He has also lost his job at a local supermarket.
“I don’t know why this happened to me. I’m thinking of moving away from this place, but the courts ruled that I will only move on after this case has been concluded. What wrong did I do to deserve such torture?” a visibly disturbed Nhamburo said.
Some Mvuma residents strongly believe that Nhamburo might be one of the four people that had been recruited to become satanists by Nduna.
