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| The injured Sheunesu Chiwara at Gutu Mission Hospital |
Moses Ziyambi
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors
for Human Rights (ZADHR) has offered to support the family of Sheunesu Chiwara
get medical treatment for their son who was shot by the police at their
homestead at a farm in the Dewure East area of Gutu East on October 18.
After TellZim News broke the story
the following day, ZADHR requested for the family’s contacts and they then
phoned Sheunesu’s mother to offer medical assistance.
ZADHR secretary general Norman
Matara later told TellZim News in a phone interview that the organisation
indeed wanted to assist Sheunesu get free medical care.
“We are in touch with doctors in
Mpandawana and Masvingo where the victim can get medical care at our expense.
This is a matter of human rights and we understand the family is finding it
expensive to pay for the care that is required. I have personally spoken to Dr
Calvin Maimba in Masvingo to attend to the case,” said Matara.
Maimba later confirmed to TellZim
News that he had been instructed to attend to Sheunesu and was trying to get in
touch with the family.
“As soon as they get transferred
to Masvingo as is being reported, I will go and check on him to see the kind of
assistance I can give,” said Maimba.
Sheunesu’s mother, Stella
Mahachi, told TellZim News she had been contacted by ZADHR and she accepted
their offer for support.
“They phoned me and asked if I
would need assistance and I accepted. Right now, we are struggling to pay the
bills at Gutu Mission Hospital where Sheunesu is admitted. I heard we will soon
need to consult a urologist in Masvingo and they promised to pay for that,”
said Mahachi.
Sheunesu was shot point blank in
the groin and his genital were injured after police officer made follow-ups to
an alleged case of assault which had happened the previous day at Chomungai business
centre.
Sheunesu and his brother Misheck maintain
their innocence, arguing that that they did not commit any assault on the day
in question. They also claim the police officers were unnecessarily aggressive when
they visited the homestead to question and arrest them.
After Sheunesu was shot, police
handcuffed him and Misheck and tried to march them to Bhasera Police Station
but later looked for a vehicle to take the injured Sheunesu to Chimombe
Hospital after he began losing a lot of blood.
Sheunesu received initial
treatment at Chimombe before being transferred to Gutu Mission Hospital where
he spent over 48 hours without being attended to by a doctor because there was
non available.
Meanwhile, police in Masvingo
refused to talk about the matter but an insider said Constable Mudziro, who
pulled the trigger, will not be charged as he invoked duty privilege; claiming
in an internal report that his team was under attack from the victim.
