Five members of the same family were charged with
the murder of a prophet who had been called to
their their home in the village of Mazonde,
Zimbabwe to help them cleanse their house of evil
spirits.
According to local newspaper, Zed 24
News, the accused family identified as
Leanmore Mutero, Tonderai Muswere,
Michael Muchengeti, Manasa Mutero and
Nicholas Mutero , appeared at the High
Court in Harare facing a murder charge for
participating in the death of self-professed
Prophet Shamiso Kanyama, who
accidentally died during a healing ceremony.
Pastor Kanyama had reportedly asked his
followers to bury him alive so that he
could summon more cleansing powers to
heal the family that had been plagued by
mysterious deaths.
Zed
24
News reports that High Court Justice
Owen Tagu heard how on that day, the
late pastor had been invited to attend the
home in the Muzarabani district, which is
situated along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe
border, by their priest, Zvidzai Muchengeti.
The five men had requested the priest to
help them clean their home of evil spirits,
because it was causing mysterious deaths
in their family.
Responding to their request to perform a
healing ceremony, Kanyama had ordered his
followers to dig a grave and bury him
alive because that was the way he
summoned more healing powers to ward
off evil spirits. However, the plan
backfired on the prophet when instead of
being resurrected as he supposed, the men
dug up the grave again to find him dead.
Kanyama helped to dig his own grave
before praying and jumping inside, Father
Zvidzai, who has turned State witness,
told the High Court. He continued that after
laying face down in the grave, he ordered
his followers to start covering him with
soil.
“He pegged a grave-shaped pit in front of
my hut and asked for help to dig the pit,”
Zvidzai continued. “Deceased requested to
be buried alive so that he would gain
power to drive away the evil forces.”
Fearing for the life of the prophet as the
men were in the process of filling the
grave, he requested the men to stop what
they were doing, Joseph Taderera told
Justice Tagu.
However, they ignored his pleas when
Kanyama urged them to continue the
process of burying him alive, stating that
he would rise from the grave unharmed.
“I warned the men about the danger of
their actions, but my advice fell on deaf
ears because Kanyama shouted, telling me
that I am disturbing his angels, and urged
them to continue filling the grave, saying
that he would later come out alive,”
Taderera said.
Sourced from Guardian News.
