Demonic teenager arrested for bestiality and murder

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Four young barefooted boys from Chilonga communal lands, south of Chiredzi Town ride on the backs of tame calves and drive a herd of cattle.

Under the blistering sun, the hooves pound the sun-baked earth and a cloud of dust spirals into the clear sky. It has not rained for weeks on end.

The day is February 1, 2010, and Mapimele villagers go about their daily chores as they hope the rains, which have been promising lately, may fall and quench "thirsty" crops.

And as fate would have it, the heavens open up sending some sections of the Runde River gushing and hissing with rainwater. Men and women rush to the river to catch fish for the day and probably the next day’s meals, while children remain behind and play.

Unfortunately, this idyllic peace and tranquillity is broached, and as the sun sets, a pall is cast on the community. Their lives are dramatically altered within a space of two hours, as four children are murdered in cold blood.

The perpetrator, Trymore Muhushi (18) whose long list of uncanny activities at home could have landed him a role as a home-alone movie boy were they not as tragic, is now the talk of the village.

"Every villager has a theory of what could have led to the gruesome murders. Most say Trymore’s father sent him to collect some "goblins" from a friend and something went terribly wrong.

"Others say Trymore went to South Africa and bought goblins which turned against him. But all this remains mere village talk, his father knows what happened that day," said Mrs Makanai Papazeli from the neighbouring Mabhila village.

Of the murdered children, one was Trymore’s cousin, Jenny and the other his sister Jessica (18 months). The other two children Matimba (5) and Katego Hlongwane (2) belonged to a neighbour.

On the same day, Trymore attempted to kill his mother, Shalati Mapimele Muhushi, but only succeeded in cutting off a finger from her left hand. His mother is still shocked by the murders and says she is afraid of being alone at the house. She now follows her husband wherever he goes.

"The pool of blood left me trembling. I was shocked and did not know what to do. I panicked and thought the child slipped and fell but almost collapsed when I saw that she was dead," Mrs Muhushi told the Herald.

She said on the fateful day, Trymore went to the fields with other family members and did not show that anything was troubling him. Neither did the young man exhibit any signs that he could murder anyone.

After a long day’s work at the fields, Trymore asked his mother to give him a machete saying he wanted to fix "something".

Not suspecting anything, Mrs Muhushi gave her son the machete and he sat outside a hut sharpening it.

"I did not think that he was up to no good so my daughter Eva and I left the house to weed our groundnut field.

"We came back and I asked Eva to drive our 29 cows into the kraal. I was carrying my 18-month-old daughter Jessica and put her on the ground to play while I looked for pumpkin seeds in one of the houses," she said.

When she opened the door of the house, Mrs Muhushi’s eyes were met by a bloodbath on the floor. The lifeless body of Jenny, her brother in-law’s daughter lay covered by a blanket.

"Jenny’s body was beneath a blanket and I uncovered it and saw her bloodstained body. She had been stabbed on the neck and the knife used in the murder was left in her oesophagus.

"I screamed and did not know what to do. A vicious looking Trymore who was still armed with the machete heard my screams, came to the door, stood menacingly with his arms akimbo then confronted me.

"He demanded to know what I was doing in the house.

"I apologised for being in the house and he told me that he wanted to kill me. He said I would not come out of that house alive and he would stab me," she explained.

Scared and shocked by what her son had done, Mrs Muhushi bravely pushed him aside and ran for dear life towards her brother-in-law’s house.

"He ran after me and started throwing stones. I fell to the ground vainly covering my head. He then ran towards me.

"He was still holding the machete and tried to hit my forehead. I tried to protect my head with my hands but the swinging machete cut off one finger and injured three others. God saved me on that day," she recalled.

Mrs Muhushi fled to her brother-in-law’s house. On seeing that his mother had escaped from his "devilish" claws, Trymore went back to their homestead where his two-year-old sister was playing.

"He picked her up, held her legs with the head downwards and smashed her to the ground several times.

"The baby did not cry at all and died instantly. Trymore then broke a window from the same room in which he had murdered his cousin and threw the baby’s body inside," she said.

Mrs Muhushi then ran to her husband before returning together. Little did they know that another surprise awaited them.

"Some villagers apprehended him but he began laughing saying he had not only killed his sister and cousin, but had killed two other children and hid their bodies at the river.

"We ran there and were shocked when we saw the bodies of the two sisters," she added.

Trymore’s father, Mr Smart Muhushi, said he reported the case to Chambuta police post that night, but they told him that they would only come the following day.

"I went to the police station at 8pm and they told me that they would only come to the scene of crime at 6am the following day," said Mr Muhushi.

He revealed that the village head and parents of the murdered children met on February 7 and asked for compensation in the form of cattle.

"They said five head of cattle should be paid as compensation for each child who was killed.

"I have paid the 15 head of cattle so far. Ten went to the mother of the two murdered children and five others to my brother.

"I paid two other cows to the owner of the car that ferried the bodies of the dead children for post-mortem in Chiredzi and sold another to teachers at Chikovho School so that I could meet the costs of the traditional healer I hired," he added.

He described his son as a quiet but troubled young man who was always up to mischief.

"He was arrested in November last year after he was found being intimate with a chicken, a sheep, a goat and a donkey.

"Police took him to Chiredzi for prosecution, but we were shocked when he came back a few days later. We do not know if the court had released him or if he absconded. We never made an effort to find out what really happened and continued staying with him," Mr Muhushi said.

He said in November last year they consulted a traditional healer to find out if there was any force behind their child’s strange behaviour.

The traditional healer confirmed their fears and told them that Trymore was possessed by the spirit of a woman whose identity he did not disclose.

"The traditional healer said he was possessed by evil spirits. He told us that a woman from our area had bewitched him. The healer had tried to help him but his medicine was overpowered by the evil spirits and Trymore was back to his old tricks again," he added.

Court records at Chiredzi Magistrates’ Courts revealed that Trymore had indeed been arrested for bestiality and had appeared before a magistrate to answer to charges of contravening Section 74 of the Criminal Codification and Reform Act Chapter 09:23.

The records show that on November 6 last year, Trymore and his nephew Boniface Mapimele were at home when a flock of sheep entered their kitchen.

His nephew drove some of the sheep out of the house but did not notice that one had remained behind. Taking advantage of his cousin’s absence, Trymore then tied the back legs of one of the ewes to a plough, which was in the kitchen and became intimate with it.

He then untied the sheep but did not notice that his cousin had seen the whole episode. The court records further allege that the following day, Trymore again became intimate with a chicken. The chicken was found dead the following morning. Boniface told Trymore’s parents what he had seen and they confronted him.

He then confessed to being intimate with the animals and was arrested, but absconded sentencing. Mr Muhushi said all the warning signs were there but they were too blind to see.

"Such was my son’s behaviour. He was naughty and a problem wherever he went. He was dull and dropped out of school in Grade 6.

"He had no friends and spent most of his time alone. He sat alone even if boys of his age were having fun.

"He fought with people whenever he went for a beer drink," he said.

He pointed out that his son never had a mental problem and narrated how on many occasions his son, after taking beer and dagga, had attempted to kill him and a neighbour using stones.

"I remember that in March last year he beat Julius Mukwande from the other village during a beer drink. He also attacked him with stones saying he wanted to kill him.

"Julius could have been dead if there was no one around," he explained.

Mr Muhushi reported to the police but they did not arrest Trymore.

"I was embarrassed and took Mukwande for treatment. I sold a cow for 900 Rand so that I would pay the hospital bill," he said.

According to Mr Muhushi, the second attempted murder was in December last year during female circumcision celebrations.

"I went to the beer drink with my wife and left our young children alone at home. We were supposed to spend the night at the beer drink so I went home to check on the children.

"I could not find my keys and stood by the door while looking for them in my pair of trouser pockets.

"He just showered me with stones and I had to scream telling him I was at the door. He did not listen to what I was saying and insisted he wanted to kill me.

"He continued to throw the stones and shattered window panes on one of the houses. I ran away and told people who were drinking beer to help me but they refused.

"I went to report the issue to the police the following morning and they promised to come but did not show up," he added.

The following week, Trymore attacked his father’s sister Esnath Chauke with a log.

"He hit her on the head with the log and she fell to the ground. She is alive today because her husband who was nearby rescued her.

"My brother-in-law went to report the assault to police and they told him to first take my sister for treatment before arresting Trymore," he complained.

The dejected father said he will never allow Trymore back into their lives and will abandon their home if he comes back.

"I am 58 years old but have never been arrested. Why can’t my son do the same?" he asked.

Tendai Jemu, the devastated mother of Katego and Matimba said the 10 head of she got as compensation will never replace her children.

She said she has been staying in that village since 2003 and had never had an argument with Trymore or his parents.

Jemu, whose husband is in South Africa, said she regrets the moment she left her children unattended when she went to wash clothes along the Runde River.

"I left them playing and only came back home when I got news that two children from the Muhushi family had been murdered.

"At this point no one knew that my children had also been killed and I proceeded to the Muhushi homestead to pay my condolences and went back home.

"I did not see my two daughters and thought that they were still playing somewhere," she added.

She said at sunset her children did not return home and she started looking for them.

"I called out their names but they did not answer. I looked for the small girl they were playing with and she told me that she saw Trymore following them.

"My heart almost stopped beating and many things ran through my mind," she narrated.

Added Jemu: "The girl told me that she was carrying Katego on her back and put her down when Trymore started throwing stones at them.

"The small girl hid behind a bush and saw Trymore crushing Matimba and Katego’s heads with rocks. He then used the machete to rip open their heads."

She said when they arrived at the scene of the crime, the dead children lay facing opposite directions, but their legs were crossed. Mrs Jemu said she was relocating to another village.

Dust has not yet settled in Chilongo village but the murdered children now rest peacefully in their graves, and Trymore has been arrested.

The question that remains unanswered is what really went wrong that day? Could society have done better to protect itself against such demonic activity?