HARARE - A combination of fear, grief and anxiety has engulfed Domboshava’s Chinamhora area.

Seven gruesome killings in two weeks have shaken the community and everyone is on the edge.

The brutal nature of the killings would make even the stone-hearted quiver.
 
Victims’ bodies were mutilated. Eyes were gouged out and genitals sliced off in what residents and police say point to ritual killings.
   
Apprehension is written on almost every face in this market-gardening rural community 30km north-east of the capital Harare.
 
Peace is what the community had known all along. Today, burying victims of the killings is fast becoming a routine.
 
And there is every reason to fear that the murders are  far from over.
   
After the first two killings, police arrested six men from Epworth, a semi peri–urban settlement outside Harare, on allegations of committing the crimes.
   
A week later, with the accused men firmly tucked in custody, tragedy struck again.
   
Residents woke up last Monday to find five dead bodies, all of them members of the community.
    
It was not yet over.
 
A day later, they discovered a decomposing body in Chibvuri Farm, a clear sign that the “ritual murderers” are still making hits.
   
“The killers are still out there,” says Stanford Masawi who swears he has never witnessed such gory killings in his lifetime.
   
“That makes us really afraid. You just wake up expecting the worst news,” he says, vigorously puffing a pipe, which he says helps calm nerves.
    
Police have launched a joint operation with the army and neighbourhood watch committees.
    
Constable Onisimo Murungweni of Chinamhora Police Station told the Daily News on Sunday that security is at red alert in the area.
 
“We are working together with soldiers to find out who is committing these crimes. We now have police with bicycles moving during the night in the village, they are also being helped by the neighbourhood watch committees, together with some soldiers who are patrolling the area, “said Murungweni.
 
“Investigations into the ritual murders still continue and this is why we started these operations,” he said.
 
But that has done little to ease anxiety.
 
Residents gather in groups and voices are low as if they can feel the killers in the shadows.
   
From Mverechena Business Centre to the thatched villages in Mungate, Zimbiru and Parirewa, fear and trepidation is the order of the day.
 
Parents give their schoolchildren strict instructions: “Do not talk to strangers, move in groups and report to police any person you suspect of being a foreigner.”
 
A local traditional leader, headman Gilbert Mungate, says folks in the area, where the majestic Domboshava caves that draw a steady stream of domestic tourists are situated, are unconformable with “outsiders”.
   
“People do not know what is happening and we are no longer comfortable seeing strangers in our area. We are pleading with security forces to protect us. Our usual calm is what we need,” Mungate tells the Daily News on Sunday on the sidelines of the burial of Paradzai Benhura Masawi on Thursday in Mungate Village, one of the victims of the killings.
   
Police have no reason to invoke their power to impose a curfew here.

Residents know the time to go home.

As soon as dusk sets in, families keep indoors.
 
Jason Mudariki, a villager who was drinking at a “sports bar” at Mungate Shopping Centre says he no longer drinks the night away as the murderers might pounce on his way home from the watering hole.
 
“We no longer enjoy our beer because we have to be very careful or we die. We are now drinking mostly during the day as walking at night is very risky,” says Mudariki, who was drinking opaque beer with friends.
             
“Just look at the way those people died and you will understand why we have to be home, all doors are locked before it gets dark,” he says.
 
Masawi of Mungate Village was found dead on Monday morning with head and stomach injuries. The murderers had tied his neck using a shirt. Two bodies found in Sasa village had deep cuts on the head and genitals missing.
   
The Daily News on Sunday visited Mungate Village for Masawi’s funeral and family members were devastated.
 
Masawi’s elder brother Stanford said: “I was called on Monday morning by some people in the village who had found my brother’s body lying dead in a nearby bush.  We notified the police who came and took his body to Makumbe Hospital.

It was clear from the onset that my brother was murdered as his shoes, hat and belt were missing and he had wounds on the head and stomach,” said Stanford.

The Daily News on Sunday also went to Parirewa Village for the funeral processions of Clemence Jonas Parirewa, who was found dead in a bush near his home. It was the same grisly story.

Narrates Tichaona, brother to Clemence: “We were woken by people coming from the beerhall at Showground Business Centre who told us that three bodies had been found near our home,”said Tichaona, battling to come to terms with the loss.
 
“We rushed to the bush and found the dead body of my brother together with two other people, namely Paddington Muchakata and Cephas Muchenje who had their eyes gouged out. Clemence had a deep gash on his head and lying dead. The other two men are from our village too,” he said.

There are four survivors receiving treatment at Parirenyatwa Hospital. - Staff Writer