Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Marrima family is still reeling at the loss of a family member whose death they cannot comprehend. The call reporting the death of 29-year-old Samuel Alberto left them perplexed.
“He was beaten to death, because he was a thief, they said, but the things they say he stole were not found on him,” sister Maria Alberto said, on the verge of tears.
But Banto Alberto, the victim’s brother, confirmed that Samuel’s conduct was reprehensible. “Samuel was, in fact, a thief. It was not the first time he had been accused of the crime,” he confessed, admitting that his brother had stolen goods from homes on various occasions.
The police have detained a young man for allegedly participating in the victim’s death.
Events unfolded last Thursday when the home of one of the now murder suspects was invaded by a gang who made off with a laptop, two mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money.
Two others homes were also invaded, their owners asserting that assets were stolen.
On Friday morning, the victims of the robbery traced the footsteps of the alleged robbers, leading them to the murdered young man’s house, where they tried to force him to reveal the location of the stolen goods.
The latter failing to cooperate, they resorted to violence to try and persuade him, but such was the violence that he was taken to hospital, where he died before receiving medical attention.
One of those accused of complicity in Alberto’s death admitted that he was at the scene, but only to ascertain the whereabouts of the stolen computer and mobile phones. He complained to our reporter that he was a victim of fate, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and thereby transformed from robbery victim into murder suspect.
He had on his own initiative gone to the police to file a complaint for the theft he had suffered, he added, but ended up being arrested.
Despite his denial, police believe that he took part in the attack, said Nércia Bata from the PRM Provincial Command in Inhambane, adding that the authorities were looking for other individuals who might have participated in the attacks that led to Samuel Alfredo’s death.
These persons would be handed over to the judicial authorities for due process.
By
Hugo Firmino
