Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – Villagers from Munyamani Village 5 under Chief Maranda who lost dogs and chickens to what was widely seen as a deliberate poisoning incident have criticised the police and the district’s veterinary services department for shoddy investigations that led to the ac-quittal of the suspect on all the 14 charges he faced.
Munyamani village head, Fani Chikamare, was this week acquitted by the Mwenezi Magis-trates’ Court at the close of the State’s case due to lack of evidence.
Some of the victims said justice had not been served due to the sub-standard work done by the police and the veterinary services personnel that attended the crime scene.
“We telephoned the police soon after discovering the offence in the morning. Instead of swiftly coming to attend the scene, they said we must come to the police station. We had to go there and give them transport to come and investigate but nothing meaningful was,” said a villager who lost some dogs.
Another villager described the case as a miscarriage of justice, saying a clear matter of cruelty against animals had gone unpunished.
“Some 60 dogs and several chickens died of poisoning but the veterinary surgeon who came to investigate did not even take samples to do tests. The poisonous substance that killed the dogs and chickens remains unknown,” the villager said.
Chikamare was facing charges of feeding poisoned bits of meat to the dogs and chicken in revenge against a village dog that had mauled his goat to death.local
