THE widow of Apostle Charles Chiriseri, Pastor Petunia, has denied claims that the “vengeful spirit” of her husband caused the deaths of the people who allegedly stole from his corpse.
Apostle Chiriseri died in an accident in 2016 at the 388 km peg along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway. Pastor Petunia survived with serious injuries after their vehicle overturned as he tried to avoid hitting two cows which were on the road.
At the scene US$200, three brand new cell phones and a laptop were stolen and three people who allegedly had a hand in the theft died in freak accidents while a fourth survived an accident.
In an interview during the unveiling of Apostle Chiriseri’s tombstone on Monday, Pastor Petunia who now leads His Presence Ministries International (HPMI) founded by her husband, said that the late pastor was a good man and his spirit would not change because of death.
“Apostle Charles’ spirit is who Apostle Charles was. Your spirit does not suddenly change its nature after death. He was a good man. He could not suddenly enjoy the death of three people and injury of a fourth,” she said.
Pastor Petunia, however, acknowledged that the incidents were not by chance.
“It’s clear that these were not coincidences. We were also perplexed as a family. So clearly it was God’s decision to expose the callousness of mankind.
These unfortunate deaths are really sad to us all but God chose to prove what a profoundly prophetic man of God he was,” she said.
Pastor Petunia said police informed the Chiriseri family that all the three men who looted cash and property at the accident scene died in traffic accidents and the fourth one survived a traffic accident.
She added the church and the family sent their condolences to the bereaved families.
Pastor Petunia said she had moved on with her life and the unveiling of the tombstone has aided in bringing closure to both the church and the family.
She said the Chiriseri family has released her and she can now remarry but she highlighted that this is not her focus.
“In terms of remarriage, in a family meeting after the unveiling of the tombstone and church service which was attended by our children and representatives of the church leaders, the great Chiriseri family released me to feel free to remarry if I want to,” she said.
In the strange deaths, Mkhokheli Mpofu, a police officer who allegedly stole US$200 from Apostle Chiriseri’s corpse was hit by a car while manning a roadblock which was located near where Apostle Chiriseri had his accident.
He died on admission to United Bulawayo Hospitals on the same day. Another suspect, a Kurai Bus Service conductor, Forget Chikweya who allegedly stole a Samsung S6 fell from a bus and died while Honest Hleza, a fire-fighter with Bulawayo Fire Brigade who allegedly stole a laptop died when the fire engine he was in overturned affecting only him and a colleague who is said to have been an accomplice to the theft.