A man from Selbourne Park, a low-density suburb in Bulawayo, has died after he was attacked by his own dogs.

The dogs mistook John Gavhera (61) for an intruder and attacked him after jumping over his gate, having forgotten his keys at work. Reads a police memo:

The deceased jumped over the gate since he had forgotten the gate keys and since no one was at home and went inside the house to collect his toolbox. In no time the deceased was then heard rebuking his dog by a student who stays next door.

The neighbours then saw through the precast wall the deceased lying on the ground whilst three Boer bull dogs were biting him all over the body, dragging him and tearing his clothes.

Observations at the scene were that there were three big, vicious Boer bull cross breeds which were inside the yard which is durawalled (precast wall) and has a black gate. A torn work suit and phone was found near the gate, a blue monarch bag with tools was also found at the gate.

The neighbours could only watch the incident unfold from a distance as they feared the dogs would attack him.

The dogs were stopped when police were called in about 40 minutes later.

Gavhera was taken to a medical facility, where he eventually succumbed to the injuries that evening.