A family from Chigodora under Chief Zimunya in Manicaland Province was recently hauled before a community court after it secretly reburied its six-year-old child’s empty coffin after the grave had been tampered with.
The coffin was exhumed three years ago soon after burial and whereabouts of the body remain unknown.
The Manica Post reported that the father’s child, Joe Mureyani, later passed on under mysterious circumstances and his wife relocated to South Africa.
However, members of the Mureyani family were dragged to Headman Chigodora’s court last Saturday to explain why they did not inform the local leadership following the incident.
The issue has since been transferred to Acting Chief Zimunya’s court and will be heard on 06 August.
Derrick Mureyani begged for forgiveness on behalf of the family when he was asked by Headman Chigodora why they did not report the matter to their Village Head or the Headman. Said Mureyani:
My aunt was walking past the grave when she discovered that it had been tampered with. The grave had been dug and the coffin removed.
This happened a few days after the child’s burial. We told our elders, and we conducted a search but found nothing.
However, days later, someone saw a child’s coffin inside the house of a villager who is mentally challenged. The coffin looked like the one that we had buried the child in.
Police were alerted and the villager was arrested. He was taken to the psychiatric unit where he was evaluated and was released recently.
However, the body is yet to be found up to this day.
He added that the shroud that the child’s body was wrapped in, as well as his clothes that had been put in his grave, were all found inside the coffin.
Headman Chigodora accused the family of performing rituals at the cemetery without notifying the traditional leadership. He said:
As far as I am concerned, that child’s spirit is roaming around this area because the body is yet to be found. This is probably why your family is suffering from mysterious illnesses.
You had no right to visit the cemetery and perform your rituals without notifying the local leadership.
You reburied the empty coffin on your own without informing anyone. This shows that you were trying to cover up something.
Since you do not want to tell this court why you never reported this matter, it is proper for me to transfer the matter to Chief Zimunya’s court.
Another family member, Shepherd Mureyani, said the traditional healers they consulted over the matter pointed the finger at the family’s patriarch, Zacharia Mureyani. He said:
After the mysterious disappearance of the child’s corpse, Zacharia ordered Joe to deliver some red cloth to Clever’s home. Joe was not aware that this was a ploy to kill Clever.
However, this backfired on Joe and he died shortly afterwards. This matter was also kept under wraps for three years.
This means that both Joe and his son’s restless spirit are still roaming around this area.
However, Zacharia denied being responsible for the disappearance of the child’s corpse, saying “There are a lot of witches and wizards” in the Mureyani family.
More: Pindula News