Own Correspondent
www.zimgbcnews.co.zw
Sabelo Dube, a 17-year-old boy from Kenilworth in Lukona village, located between Nkayi and INyathi in Matabeleland North, was savegely attacked by police dogs on Wednesday morning leaving him with deep wounds.
The attack happened when Police officers were said to be headed to a mine where gold deposits had been discovered.
The mine is two kilometers away from were Sabelo was mauled by the Police dogs.
Collen Mpofu, an uncle to Sabelo explained to reporters that the police, with their dogs, were deployed to the area following news of a gold discovery at a nearby gold claim in Kenilworth.
It is sad that many young people had gathered at the mine for gold panning purposes.
“There is gold that was discovered in Kenilworth, and it seems the police, under the instruction of one Dumisani who oversees the mine left to him by his father, were directed to go to that place so as to disperse gold panners.
It is during the melee that Sabelo was attacked by police dogs.
“The police arrived at Lukona shops with dogs, and people who were seated there started running away. Sabelo, who had been sent to the shops, was caught in that chaos and was severely bitten by the dogs,” Narrated Mpofu.
“The police hadn’t even reached the mine at the time of the incident.”
Sabelo was taken to Lukona Clinic, were staff determined that his wounds were too severe and transferred him to Nyathi Hospital.
It is at the treatment center that Sabelo’s mother realised that the police had misreported the location of the incident. Instead of writing that the incident occured at the shops in Lukona, the police allegedly wrote that Sabelo was at the mine, two kilometers away.
Sabelo’s mother, Priscila Nkomazana, expressed frustration over the police’s misrepresentation of the incident.
“I had sent my son to the shops. What’s not true about the police report is that they claimed my child was at the mine.”
Sabelo was given four injections against rabies and will receive additional ones after seven days. He will also undergo daily wound treatment at the clinic.
The police have been accused of misreporting the circumstances of the incident, and other villagers, including Kholwani Khabo, a relative of Sabelo, were also bitten by the police dogs.
Khabo has since been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, which was allegedly found in his pocket after he was bitten by the dogs.
The Matabeleland North Provincial Police Spokesperson, Inspector Glory Banda, was unavailable for comment, and the acting police spokesperson, Sergeant Namatirai Mashona, said she was attending a funeral.
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