Staff Reporter

The murder of a Rio Tinto High School, Zhombe teacher has left the local community in shock.

The teacher, Fanuel Mwale (57) was found dead on 19 January 2024 along a gravel road near Joel Business Centre.

According to police the body was found with missing eyes, ears, and nose.

“The head was skinned with an unknown sharp object. The victim was last seen on 18 January 2024 at around 1600 hours after knocking off duty,” police said in a statement.

Chief Wait Gwesela of Zhombe said it was highly likely that Mwale was killed for ritual purposes.

“This is unheard of we have never witnessed such a thing in this community. We can only suspect that this was for ritual purposes,” he said.

A member of the Apostolic sect, Madzibaba Abiot who spoke to this publication concurred with Chief Gwesela on the ritual killing issue.

“It is these gold panners who want to make quick fast money by using bad African juju. If it was an ordinary killer they would not have gorged his eyes out,” he said.