A former senior police officer in Bulawayo allegedly committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance and was discovered in his car by his stepdaughter on Sunday morning.
The deceased, Walter Frank Ebinerng, 62, was a former member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and had achieved the rank of chief inspector when he retired.
Before Ebinerng committed suicide, his stepdaughter Awakhiwe Geraldino Mdlongwa (21) together with her young brother, Nkanyiso Mdlongwa (16), overheard him saying he wanted to kill himself without explaining why.
“The two (Awakhiwe Mdlongwa and Nkanyiso Mdlongwa) heard Walter saying he was going to commit suicide but did not reveal the cause,” according to police sources.
After overhearing what the deceased had stated Awakhiwe, advised her mother, Sikhathele Ebinerng.
The family retired to bed just after midnight and left the deceased seated inside his car.
The following morning Ebinerng’s wife left for Filabusi but did not check for his whereabouts and at around 1520 hours that same day, she received a phone call from her daughter that he was unconscious in his car.
“Sikhathele instructed the informant to call Netstar ambulance who then attended the scene and observed that Walter was already dead. The team leader of Netstar ambulance, Flora Nicola Tshuma , together with the informant proceeded to ZRP QueensPark and made a report,” police sources said.
The police attended the scene and “searches were done on the body and two cellphones, a Samsung and an ITEL phone, a black wallet with a national identity and defaced police ID were recovered. Only an empty 200ML red bottle (faded) was recovered from the bin and is suspected to be the one which had poison.”
Ebinerng’s body was ferried to the United Bulawayo Hospitals mortuary for a post-mortem and investigations are in progress.
