Chivhu woman brutally assaulted, killed by police detectives in botched investigation

Rogue Zimbabwe Republic Police officers based in Chivhu allegedly tortured and killed a woman whom they accused of concealing money stolen by her sister.

Sharai Mukaro is reported to have been arrested and assaulted by detectives who were investigating a case where US$1 000 was stolen.

During their investigation, the police picked up Mukaro for questioning. They allegedly took her to a “Darkroom” at Chivhu Police Station where she was questioned and allegedly severely assaulted by police officers who include one Detective Dondo during interrogation on September 12, 2021.

Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said a medical report showed that she suffered internal bleeding around her heart and that could have resulted in her death.

The report read:

Police officers were among the main perpetrators of human rights violations that occurred in Mashonaland East. The police were perpetrators of 40% of the human rights violations that ZPP recorded this month.  In one of the cases, police officers in Chivhu in Chikomba district tortured a woman to death during interrogations on September 12.

She was suspected of withholding money allegedly stolen by her younger sister who had been arrested in Harare. According to an autopsy shown to the ZPP, the deceased, Sharai Mukaro, suffered massive pericardial clot, had large amounts of blood in the upper mediastinum (which contains the heart, thymus gland, portions of the oesophagus and trachea, and other structures) and had raptures in the area of the aorta.

Meanwhile, The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) have since taken legal proceedings against Detective Dondo,  Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs Kazembe Kazembe.

The ZLHR said,

We have notified Detective Dondo, Zimbabwe Republic Police CG Godwin Matanga and Home Affairs & Cultural Heritage Minister Hon. Kazembe that we will soon institute legal processes to sue them for damages arising from intentionally&unlawfully causing the death of Sharai Mukaro, a Chivhu resident.

Mukaro, a mother of 2, died early in September from injuries sustained as a result of the severe assault by Detective Dondo & some police officers in a “Darkroom” at Chivhu Police Station, where she was detained after being accused of stealing US$1 000.

In a notice of intention to sue served on Detective Dondo, Matanga and Kazembe, our lawyer Tinashe Chinopfukutwa stated that Dondo fatally assaulted Mukaro after having threatened to kill her.

Chinopfukutwa protested that the conduct of the police officers in question is a breach of the constitutional obligation of the Police Service to protect & secure the lives of Zimbabwean citizens as provided for under Section 219(1)(c) of the Constitution.

Our lawyer has also formally requested that the criminal investigations on the death of the deceased which are currently being handled by police officers from Chivhu Police Station be conducted by police officers from another police station as he does not reasonably expect police officers at Chivhu Police Station to investigate themselves & accord justice to his clients.