Relatives of the late Strive Madamombe (11) who was recently murdered by his stepfather Owen Nyamukachi have reportedly demanded US$2 000 from the murderer for them to remove their son’s blood that has congealed in the house.
According to the African custom, the blood of a murdered person can only be cleaned by a blood relative.
According to a statement by police, Nyamukachi, of Zengeza 2 suburb of Chitungwiza, crushed his stepson’s head with a hammer on 7 February following a misunderstanding over the purchase of airtime recharge cards.
He gave Strive US$1.00 to buy airtime worth ZWL$20.00 but instead, the boy bought airtime worth $50.
The boy’s mother, Abigail Chindomu told H-Metro that she has relocated to her brother’s house in the same neighbourhood leaving one tenant at the house. She said:
The house was locked and I am staying at my brother’s house since the Madamombe family is yet to settle their issues with the Nyamukachi family on the cleansing of the house.
Memorial service for my son will only be conducted upon the finalisation of the two families’ issues on removing of the blood from the house.
The spokesperson for the Nyamukachi family, Tiny Nyamukachi (44) said the boy’s avenging spirit has already started to torment the family and they are now scrounging for the money. He said:
As Nyamukachi family, the blood of the boy murdered by our relative has already started to haunt us and we are now breathing fire due to the demands of the late boy’s parents.
We are meeting every day to collect money demanded by the Madamombe family so as to remove blood clots in the house.
The community which used to rely on the clean water from the house has been robbed as well since the house was locked from the day of the incident.