A MENTALLY-CHALLENGED man from Chinhoyi succumbed to injuries suffered in an assault by four members of a neighbourhood watch committee members in Harare who mistook him for a thief.
Donald Jamela (69), Tinashe Jamela (27), Roy Mujaho (29) and Thembalami Jamela (28), appeared before Harare magistrate Munashe Chibanda on Friday facing a murder charge.
The four, who are members of the Cranbrone neighbourhood watch committee, were granted $150 000 bail each and told to return to court on August 23.
Allegations are that on May 1, 2023, the now-deceased Itai Mwandicheya left Chinhoyi for Harare to visit his uncle Ozias Daka who resides in Cranborne.
He arrived at Daka’s residence before midnight but did not get a response when he knocked at the gate.
Mwandicheya went to a nearby vending stall at the intersection of Biddulph and Chiremba roads where he sought shelter for the night.
At around 0100 hours, he was approached by the accused who were on patrol in the neighbourhood.
They interrogated him about his presence in their area and dismissed the story that he had visited his uncle.
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They assaulted him with baton sticks accusing him of being a thief.
After they realised that he had sustained serious injuries, they contacted Daka who confirmed that Mwandicheya was his nephew.
They took him to Daka’s place. On May 2, 2023, Mwandicheya left Harare for Kwekwe to visit his aunt.
He succumbed to the injuries on May 5 and a police report was made, leading to the arrest of the quartet.
