It was a bizarre coincidence when a married couple, Philip Mubatapasango and his wife Previous Sigodho, reportedly died mysteriously on the same day under similar circumstances but at different locations, reports MyZimbabwe.
The
ill-fated couple from Chabvuta village in in Guruve, a suburb of
Zimbabwe, were said to be foaming in the mouth and bleeding from the
mouth, nose and ears at the same time and both died less than an hour
later, leaving their relations in a state of shock.
A
district senior police officer, Chief Inspector Phillip Checho
confirmed the deaths and said the authority is still trying to put
together statements from people who saw the couple before they died.
According
to the police, a family friend of the couple, Sosanna Mugwada, had
pleaded with the couple for a ride in Philip's scotchcart. Her
15-year-old grandson had fallen sick and needed to be taken to Guruve
Hospital.
Before they could leave, Philip's
brother, Gift Madyirapanze and his son arrived at the house and the five
had a meal of rice and tea which had been prepared by Previous.
"After
the meal, Previous decided she would not join her husband for the trip
to Guruve since the scotch cart would not accommodate the four of us and
the business stock.
He (Philip) dropped
us at a local mission hospital which is a few kilometres from Guruve
Centre while he went on to do his errands and came back to fetch us
after four hours. When we got to Guruve Centre, he inquired what my
grandson had eaten.
I told him he had had
nothing since he was vomiting. Philip, however, went into a grocery
store to buy a loaf of bread and offered the boy.
He
tried to jump into the scotch cart but his legs were shaky and weak. I
asked him if he was feeling well but he failed to respond as he tried to
get into the cart. He finally got in and sat on the edge, facing the
opposite direction so that I could not see his face.
After
an hour's distance, around 3.30 pm, I noticed a school girl from our
village standing in the way of the cart. I could tell by the look on her
face that something was terribly wrong; she then asked me why Philip
was not blinking. I then turned him around and his eyeballs seemed like
they were going to pop out and his mouth was wide open.
I
laid him down in the cart and he started grunting and frothing. After
some time, blood started oozing out of his mouth, nose and ears. I got
confused and did not know what to do. I quickly summoned the girl to
lead the cattle back home to Philip's wife."
Unknown to her, Previous was also going through the same fate.
Neighbours
found Previous bleeding and frothing after being alerted by a passerby
who had heard strange noises from the couple's house.
"We
found her face down around 3pm, frothing. After some time, she started
bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears. That was when we decided to send
someone for her husband."
Most villagers are suspecting that the two died as a result of witchcraft.
Philip's brother, Isaiah Madyirapanze, said:
"We
have ruled out food poisoning because of the way they died. I have
never heard of poison that kills in such a manner. They never complained
of any illness prior to their deaths.
I think someone was getting jealousy of their small business and decided to bewitch them."
