Killers Drank Blood From Shot FarmerOctober 25, 2002
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Four men charged with the murder of the first white farmer to die in President Robert Mugabe's violent land seizures took blood from his corpse, mixed it with alcohol and drank it, a Zimbabwean court heard yesterday.
David Stevens, 48, who shared profits with workers at his farm 60 miles east of Harare, was attacked by so-called veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war in April 2000.
He sought help from officers at the local police station, who did nothing to stop him being abducted and dragged into the bush, where he was tortured and shot.
The four on trial, Richard Svisviro, Muyengwa Munyuki, Charles Matanda and Douglas Chitekuteku, are accused of being part of a gang of about 15 who abducted the farmer, killed him and, according to a witness, performed a bizarre ritual, the Financial Gazette reported.
The witness, whose name is being withheld, told a shocked courtroom: "One of them knelt over Stevens's body and brought a container filled with blood which they mixed with alcohol and shared among themselves."
Banda Katsvamudanga, who is accused of firing the shot, disappeared after being released from remand prison.
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