Emotional Send Off for Tapiwa Makore

The family of the late murdered seven year old boy Tapiwa Makore took seven months to bury part of him in fragments without even his own head.

The Makore’s finally decided to bury the hatchet with the law enforcement agents for now and fight the next battle only after putting part of his remains to rest.

When TechMag Tv arrived on the scene signs of early rains were showing the heavens opening up for an emotional send off of the toddler who was brutally killed for ritual sacrifices.The hearse with some of his body parts still missing did not deter loved ones family and friends of Tapiwa Makore Jnr to mourn with the family as the boy’s fragmanted body was about to be interred in Makore Village, Murehwa.

In an exclusive live television interview with TechMag TV, the family spokesperson Gogo Beulah cried on set as she tried to hold back emotions of anything this reporter gathered.That the family had rejected the DNA results which confirmed that a head found three days after the gruesome murder was not their son’s, was not a secret as Gogo to the murdered Tapiwa, said the skull had no human flesh, no hair and its teeth did not even match their son’s. Not even a tongue.Infact nothing matched their boy and hence the emotions which were rising.

Uncle to the boy who is brother to the father also reinforced these sentiments stating they had even brought some sort of division in the family though they just wanted the truth out so they could move on.

The crowd sitted during the ceremony of the late Tapiwa Makore was also in solidarity with the family who had agonised seven months of back and forth through a pathology test run by Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals which initially refuted the head was the boy’s before changing its mind confirming that the head belonged to a 13 or 14-year-old, not a seven-year-old.

DNA samples were only extracted from Tapiwa’s mother, and not from both parents hence the father didnt believe in the process with the rest of the family.

Relatives, neighbours escorted the hearse that carried the remaining body parts of Tapiwa in a sombre atmosphere that however ignited hopes that together they could get over the emotions of the daay as they had faced such pain throughout the ordeal.

ZRP spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said: “The DNA tests were done  with guidance from experts and since this was not a paternity test, it was only prudent to get samples from the mother.”

On why the family had refused a State-assisted funeral, both family spokesperson Gogo Beula and Uncle to the deceased Makore said the assistance they wanted was justice for Tapiwa Jnr, and not coffin, food and related funeral expenses, as they could cover the rest even from well wishers that had since joined the charade.The family even argued why government was silent through out the 7 m,onths and only raised their ugly head when they heard the funeral date had been set.

Tapiwa Jnr was last seen around sunset on Wednesday September 16 last year when he was sent to tend the family garden. A search party that evening yielded nothing only for dogs to drag pieces of what looked like a human body piece into the village compound that Friday.

When police arrived in the village to investigate, a search was ordered into every homestead in the village. A pair of trousers covered in blood was recovered in Tafadzwa Shamba’s room, who was immediately taken in by the police as his explanation to the soiled trousers did not add up.

When Tafadzwa,the killer herdboy was hardpressed to speak out what happened, he implicated his employer, Tapiwa Makore Snr, cousin to the boy’s father Munyaradzi Makore. The herdboy readily admitted to the gruesome murder and explained in graphic detail shown on video with police accompanying him to explain the murder how they had intoxicated the young boy with beer, before cutting him into pieces. Through his indications, limbs were located and dug from a pit latrine.It is no secret the skull that was found on the Sunday after Tapiwa’s murder on Thursday was not only too old to be their son’s but did not have human flesh, blood or hair.

Cars were seen plastered with Tapiwa’s posters reminiscing In November last year when the family received DNA results from the torso and limbs, which confirmed that the parts matched. These were done by AIBST. On March 9, they received the second set of DNA results which confirmed that the head matched the torso. The skull DNA tests were done by the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and AIBST.

Nevertheless Gogo Beaulah Musupayi on behalf of the family disputed the findings considering at first they said it wasn’t and now they said it was and besides the point the head was of an older boy.

Still it was a befitting emotional send off for a boy who brought everyone across every divide to pay their last respects.This boy could have been anyone, he could have been someone’s brother, someones uncle someone’s dad, someone’s grandfather eventually someday and the story must add up, perpatrators must all be caught and punished to send a message.Justice must prevail.