A 21-year-old South African man is on the run after allegedly gruesomely murdering his Zimbabwean girlfriend by striking her with an axe in the head.

The incident occurred on Saturday, August 25, at around 11:00 at Lutumba Village in the Beitbridge district.

The station commander for the police in Beitbridge, Chief Supt Nicholas Mawere, said the suspect waylaid his girlfriend, Shylett Ngwenga (16), while she was coming from work with another man, suspected to be her other boyfriend. The girlfriend was employed at a local bottle store.

According to local villagers, the suspect had just arrived from South Africa when he heard a rumour that his girlfriend was involved in an affair with another man. He then decided to waylay the duo at a bushy area. "The suspect then emerged from the bushy area, resulting in the other man´s fleeing. The suspect and Shylett then started quarrelling before the suspect subsequently struck his girlfriend with an axe on the head three times," Mawere said.

The girl’s other alleged boyfriend reported the matter to the police, who then arranged for an ambulance to ferry the victim to Beitbridge District Hospital. She was later transferred to Bulawayo after the local doctors failed to remove the axe, which was embedded in her head.

Ngwenya died a few hours after she was admitted to the United Bulawayo Hospital, due to the severe head injuries she had sustained.

Mawere said police were now appealing to community members to assist with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspect. "We suspect the man could have fled back to South Africa, however, we are appealing to community members to contact us concerning the whereabouts of the suspect," he said.

The gruesome murder has left the community of Beitbridge shell-shocked.