The Sunday Mail
A SUSPECTED thief became a prisoner of his own scheme after he got stuck for two days in a chimney.
The incident happened in 2017.
Andrea Zunga of Makokoba suburb in Bulawayo was part of a gang of three that hatched a plan to enter Thabiso Youth Centre in the same suburb through the building’s two chimneys.
Zunga’s accomplices managed to enter through one of the chimneys and got way with two computers, a laptop and a jacket. Zunga, however, got stuck in the other chimney, which is blocked at the bottom.
On realising that Zunga was stuck in the chimney, the accomplices fled with their loot and did not tell anyone about the mishap.
Zunga looked like the popular South African soapie “Isibaya” zombie, Umgijimi, when a fire brigade crew smashed the chimney to rescue him.
He appeared to have relieved himself while straitjacketed in the smoke vent as a pungent stench of human excrement kept rescuers at bay.
Police arrived on time to save him from an angry mob, before whisking him away.
Family members said Zunga was on important medication after coming back from South Africa on a stretcher.
“We’re worried he might relapse after defaulting for three days,” said his brother Trevor.
He said the family had reported him missing.
Zunga had apparently shouted himself hoarse trying to attract residents’ attention, to no avail.
For two days he screamed, shouted and cried but no one heard him.
A cleaner at Thabiso Youth Centre later got the shock of his life when he heard a voice from the roof.
“Mayibabo ncedani, indlala, ngafa kubuhlungu. (Help, I’m starving, I’m dying),” rasped the croaky voice.
The cleaner fled.
First on the scene were the police, who were seen dropping a rope down the chimney but Zunga was too weak to grasp it.
They called the fire brigade and the firemen destroyed the structure.
Zunga then hobbled down a ladder without help, reeking of excrement, with a cloud of flies buzzing around him.
Two police officers were waiting to cuff him at the bottom and they saved him from the crowd that wanted to beat him up.
“We only discovered that someone was stuck in the chimney this morning as we heard faint cries of someone calling for help. It seems yesterday he was quiet as he was still trying to get himself out of the situation,” said the chairperson of the Parental Advisory Committee at Thabiso Youth Centre.
The official said Zunga is a popular face at the youth centre as he frequents the place that is a stone’s throw from his family’s home.
A chief fire officer said the fire brigade was called to the scene.
“We were called to rescue a 33-year-old man who was stuck in a chimney at Thabiso Youth Centre in Makokoba at 9.31am.
He must have been trying to steal,” he said.
The chief fire officer urged residents not to engage in such daring acts that put their lives at risk.
“The economy is tough, but people should not steal, as they will only land themselves in such embarrassing situations.
This man was just lucky to survive for two days stuck in there. It should be a lesson to others,” he added.
Zunga was charged with unlawful entry and theft in aggravating circumstances. — Chronicle
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Tragedy over alleged infidelity
A Marange man was sentenced to life imprisonment for stoning his wife to death in Murwira village last year.
Sonile Chatizwa (22) had left her matrimonial home as she accused Kudakwashe Kiven Chitsiku (37) of having an extramarital affair and abusing her.
Chitsiku was last month slapped with the sentence by a Mutare High Court judge.
In handing down the sentence, the High Court noted the brutal nature of the attack.
A certificate of weight compiled by the police indicated that the three stones Chitsiku used to attack his wife, two of them with sharp edges, weighed 5,3kg, 3,9kg and 3,7kg.
He also used a brick weighing 4,25kg.
Chitsiku stoned his wife to death at her uncle’s home in Marange.
Chatizwa had packed her bags and sought refuge at her uncle’s homestead, about 4 kilometres away from her matrimonial home.
Before tragedy struck, the now-deceased revealed that she had endured extreme abuse at the hands of her cheating husband.
During trial, which was led by principal law officer Mr Malvern Musarurwa, Mr Mwaionei Dhaure, Chitsiku’s uncle, told the court that on April 13, 2023, he saw Chitsiku and his wife quarrelling at Ms Virginia Dhaure’s homestead.
He, however, did not hear what they were quarrelling about.
The court heard that the couple used to quarrel a lot, accusing each other of infidelity.
“I was passing by about 50 metres from where the accused person and the now-deceased were quarrelling. I heard the now-deceased calling, asking Chitsiku to stop.
“I saw the now-deceased running towards me carrying her baby on her back, with the accused person in hot pursuit, holding a brick.
“The deceased tried to explain to me that her husband wanted to kill her despite the fact that their dispute had been solved at Chief Marange’s court.
“Before she could finish narrating what was happening, Chitsiku arrived holding the brick. Chatizwa tried to hide behind my back, but she was struck on the head with the brick.
“She fell to the ground and became unconscious. I tried to restrain Chitsiku, but I was overpowered.
‘‘He snatched Chatizwa’s baby from her back. Chitsiku took a large stone and crushed Chatizwa’s head.
“She died on the spot. I alerted other villagers and reported the matter at Odzi Police Station,” Mr Dhaure told the
court.
Another witness, Mr Teramai Chitima, of the same village, told the court that he was called by Mr Dhaure to help restrain Chitsiku, but from a distance, he
saw Chitsiku crushing Chatizwa’s head with a boulder he was holding with both hands.
Chitima told the court that soon after committing the crime, Chitsiku grabbed a rope and fled into the bush.
After the attack, Chatizwa was left with a deep cut on the back of her head, as well as similar injury on the forehead.
A post-mortem report stated that Chatizwa died of injuries sustained during the gruesome attack. — Manica Post
