The Sunday Mail
Noah Pito in Hurungwe
Three siblings aged nine, five and three were burnt to death here last week after their grandfather torched the hut in which they were sleeping in with their parents.
Last Friday, the senior citizen, Giveson Muparaganda, appeared before Karoi magistrate Mrs Nyaradzo Ringisayi facing murder charges.
Mrs Ringisayi ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the accused and remanded him in custody to October 23.
The court heard that on the night of October 14, 2015, Muparaganda visited his son Joshua Muparaganda and demanded that Joshua should return the bride price that he had given him to marry one of his two wives.
Joshua, his two wives and five children then retreated to the kitchen, leaving Muparaganda in another hut.
At around 2 am, Muparaganda allegedly woke up and set the kitchen ablaze, leading to the death of Joshua’s three children — Sarah (9), Emilia (5) and Johane (3) — who could not be saved from the fire.
