A 14-year-old boy from Filabusi is fighting for his life at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) after allegedly being assaulted and left in a ditch by two men.
The incident occurred last Friday at Mleja Business Centre, where an argument broke out between the teenager and the two men, both reportedly around 20 years old, while they were drinking at a bar.
The victim’s identity has been withheld for ethical reasons. According to sources, the two men are neighbours of the victim.
“An argument erupted when the victim was accused of pouring beer to the two perpetrators and he fled towards Maplanka’s shops, where he was caught, severely beaten, and choked. The ordeal lasted the whole night until he was discovered the next day,” said one source.
When contacted for comment, the victim’s mother expressed her wish to keep the matter private.
“He was assaulted and suffered internal injuries, he is currently hospitalised at UBH, I will report the matter to the police once he gets discharged,” she said.
Meanwhile, the grandfather of the two attackers said he had urged the victim’s family to report the matter to the police, but his pleas were ignored.
“They were at a bar drinking, my grandchildren slapped him and ordered him to go home as he was drunk, he indeed went home and even the neighbours heard him at his home making noise but he went back to the bar resulting in the altercation. He fell hard into a ditch as he was drunk, the people who retrieved him can attest to this,” he said
“I don’t want to be involved, when this happened, I sat the family down to say let’s involve the police but they refused. How can a 14-year-old be going to the bars, how are they raising that child, the ditch he fell on was not even a meter deep.”
Matabeleland South Police Spokesperson, Inspector Loveness Mangena confirmed that no report had been filed.
‘The case was not reported. We encourage people to report such cases because sometimes it ends up being a murder case and as police, we won’t have enough evidence to then investigate the case. We encourage communities not to hesitate to report such cases,” said Inspector Mangena.
