A MAN has been sentenced to death by hanging for killing and dismembering his six-year-old son for ritual purposes.
Bigknows Wairosi, 31, from Karoi, struck his son twice on the head with an iron bar, then cut off his right ear with a pair of scissors before collecting his blood in a lunch box, the Harare High Court heard.
Wairosi pleaded not guilty to the murder, but was convicted by Justice Tendai Uchena who heard testimony of his nine-year-old son who witnessed the gruesome slaying.
The judge told Wairosi it was clear he had planned the murder to the chilling last detail, and now must pay the ultimate penalty.
"We have considered that there are no extenuating circumstances and you will be returned to prison for your death penalty to be executed," Justice Uchena said.
Wairosi told the court he had been coerced into kidnapping his own children to deliver one of them to two men, allegedly acting on the orders of a Magunje businessman.
The court heard on June 12, 2007, he went to Murambiwa Village under Chief Dandawa, Karoi, where his sons lived with their grandmother.
Musekiwa Mbanje, prosecuting, said Wairosi arrived in a vehicle with two men in dark clothes and told his mother he wanted the children to get them birth certificates.
Wairosi’s mother was reluctant to let his grandsons go, the court heard, but he prevailed.
The two men drove past Karoi with Wairosi and his two sons aged nine and six. They took a detour off the main road and parked in a secluded area on the edges of Sandra Farm.
Wairosi, the court heard, took his younger son out of the car and struck him on the head with the metal bar. After slicing off his right ear and collecting blood, he crushed the boy’s skull with a stone and dumped the body on the farm nearby.
He handed over the ear and blood to the two men, the court heard.
Meanwhile, his elder son who witnessed the horrific scenes bolted.
The court heard Wairosi went to Karoi Police Station to report his younger son missing, but detectives would learn hours later of the full horror of what had transpired when his elder son walked in with a riveting eye-witness account.
Moses Nkomo, for Wairosi, pleaded for leniency from the court, but Justice Uchena said he would show him as much mercy as he showed his son.
"Mr Wairosi showed that he knew what he was doing, and what he wanted to achieve, because he resisted his mother's advice and managed to persuade her into handing him the children."