What started off as a romantic outing ended in tragedy, when a 40-year-old Zimbabwean businessman in Beit Bridge, Mr Dambanyika Mbedzi, was brutally axed to death by a group of five suspects, while his girlfriend watched helplessly.

The incident has left the local community shell-shocked. The officer commanding police in Beit Bridge district, Chief Supt Nicholas Mawere, said the incident occurred on Saturday at around 06:00 in a bushy area outside Beit Bridge town. “The victim, who was in the company of a female, had parked his car in a bushy area when two men armed with axes, iron bars and knives descended on them. One of the suspects struck the window of the car, using a huge stone to gain access to the vehicle,” he said.

Soon after smashing the windowpane, the suspects dragged Mbedzi out of his car and demanded money. However, Mbedzi tried to wrestle with one of the suspect in a bid to disarm him, but the other suspect joined in the fight and overpowered the businessman.

“The suspects then struck him several times in the chest and leg with an axe, so that he could not escape, while the woman he was with took to her heels,” Mawere said.

The suspects got away with four cell phones. The woman went and alerted some villagers and they rushed to the scene, where they found the victim lying in a pool of blood next to his bloodstained car, a Nissan March. “The villagers tried to give chase to the suspects, but they were outpaced. The suspects disappeared into the bush and in the process dropped two cell phone lines and went away with four cellphones,” he said.