HUNDREDS of mourners, among them senior police officers, gathered at Mt Cazalet Cemetery to bid farewell to five-year-old Audrey Samkele Sithole, who was crushed to death in a car accident on Saturday evening amid calls for peace between residents and the police.
Report by Albert Ncube
The unlicensed driver of the car that hit Audrey, Sergeant Felix Matare, a police officer stationed in Gwanda, was among the mourners who attended the funeral.
Angry residents stoned his car and assaulted him and a senior police officer in the skirmishes that ensued following the accident. Ward 7 councillor Albert Mhlanga urged residents and the family to remain calm following the accident.
“I would like to advise the family and the community to accept that the child has passed on, though in an unusual way,” he said.
However, there was evidence that mourners were still angry over the incident when a man tasked to give a vote of thanks apologised to the police for the crowds’ behaviour on Saturday.
“I apologise on behalf of the family to police officers who were assaulted on Saturday,” he said, much to the chagrin of mourners, who could be heard threatening to walk away.
Many have called for justice to prevail and will be following closely how the case against Matare will unfold.
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“That policeman deserves to rot in jail. It’s high time unscrupulous policemen who think they are above the law, faced justice,” Kudakwashe Jacha wrote on Facebook. “He was driving a passenger vehicle without a driver’s and defensive licence.”
