A 16-year-old Zimbabwean boy who is suspected to have fatally axed his paternal grandmother (56) and her grandson (9), was found hanging from a tree, two days after the discovery of the two bodies.
Police suspect that the boy Nhlanhla Ndebele of Dulutsha village 3 in Siganda, Bubi District, allegedly hanged himself after killing the two.
His body was found on Monday morning hanging from a tree in a bush following a search by villagers.
Nhlanhla’s grandmother, Ms Wesi Ncube and her grandson Lloyd Ndebele, were found dead on Saturday with multiple axe wounds all over their bodies.
Police suspect that the killings may have occurred between 7PM on Friday and 7AM on Saturday.
Nhlanhla left home on Friday after informing his 14-year-old sibling that he was going to the bush and did not return home, only for his body to be found hanging.
The boy lived with his father and their homestead is a stone’s throw from his granny’s.
The bodies of his grandmother and her grandson were found a kilometre apart and the murder weapons, an axe and a knobkerrie, were found at the scene.
Matabeleland North provincial police spokesperson Chief Inspector Siphiwe Makonese confirmed that the boy was found hanging.
She said police were linking the suicide to the murders which happened in the same village.
A cellphone belonging to Ms Ncube was found in the pocket of Nhlanhla’s pair of trousers.
Police said they have other leads linking the late Nhlanhla to the murder of his grandmother and her grandson.
“I can confirm we received a report of sudden death by hanging of a 16-year-old juvenile who is allegedly linked to the two cases of murder which occurred on Saturday. Reasons for the attack are not yet known and investigations into the case are underway.
“The juvenile’s body was found hanging from a tree following a search by his father Mr Simanga Ndebele and other villagers,” Chief Insp Makonese said.
The boy’s body was taken to Mpilo Central Hospital for postmortem.
On Saturday morning, an eight-year-old girl who had gone to Ms Ncube’s homestead to ask for cooking oil discovered her body and alerted her family.
The body of Ms Ncube’s grandson was later found about a kilometre from their home by villagers.
The victims were allegedly last seen on Friday evening by their neighbour, Mrs Sibongile Ncube (48).
