School librarian murdered




John Gotora
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A LIBRARIAN at Marist Brothers in Nyanga was brutally murdered and some of his body parts mutilated in a gory incident linked to ritualism.

The late John Gotora (42)’s family members are failing to come to terms with the incident that has sent tongues wagging in the community.

It is alleged that as he was coming from work he was waylaid by unidentified men. His slain body was discovered last week at a local cemetery with some body parts missing.

It was already in an advanced stage of decomposition.

When The Manica Post visited Mapfura Village, villagers were still in a state shock.

The deceased’s widow, Viola Matiringe, said her husband was buried without his private parts, right hand, tongue, teeth, brain and some flesh from the skull.

“My husband died a painful death. They cut off his right hand, private parts, tongue and removed all flesh and brains from his skull. All his teeth were missing. We just had to bury him like that since we had no other option,” she said.

Gotora stayed at a school house with his eleven-year-old daughter while the rest of his family stayed in Mapfura Village under Chief Saunyama which is 20km away from the school.

Matiringe said Gotora left work on February 7 with the intention of visiting her and the rest of the family at home.

However, he did not arrive home as he was murdered along the way.

Since there was no communication between his daughter at school and the family in Mapfura Village, no one knew that he was missing.

On Monday his grandmother died and his wife had to send someone to Gotora’s work to inform him of the death since his phone was switched off.

Little did his wife know that her husband had long disappeared.

“The messenger was told by my daughter who stayed with her father that Gotora had visited home the previous week and had not returned to work. We sent the messenger again two days later and that is when we suspected foul play and started looking for him in the woods.

“We buried his grandmother in his absence and looked everywhere but could not find him. Other villagers joined in the search but we found nothing. The police came and helped search but to no avail,” she said.

A relative, Prisca Matimba, said they had to consult a prophet on Gotora’s whereabouts.

“The faith healer told us that we were looking on the wrong places and that we had to shift our search parties towards the Nyarugwe and Nyaunguzu mountains.

“Later that day his decomposed body was found in St Marys’ Magdalene grave site. The body was taken to Mutare then Harare for post mortem and when it came back, we then buried him just like that. He died a painful death,” said Matimba.

Gotora is survived by his wife and three minor children.

Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa confirmed the incident. He said the deceased was last seen on February 7 going home. He however, did not get home and was reported as a missing person on February 18 at ZRP Nyanga Police Station. The villagers searched for him and on February 20 and at around 10am, the body was found by one Tinotenda Mudondo.