A NYANGA man went berserk last Friday and allegedly strangled his mother, 72, to death in a dispute over rentals for a house left behind by his late sister.
Shingai Hamukwadi, 38, is said to have strangled his mother to death before hanging her body in her bedroom to make the alleged murder look like suicide.
According to local police, Shingai, of Maphosa village under Chief Hata, had a long standing dispute with his mother, Clara Hamukwadi, over his deceased sister`s estate.
The sister is reported to have left a house in Norton which was being rented out by Clara but mother and son were said to have repeatedly quarrelled over how to share the rentals.
On the fateful day, villagers visited the Hamukwadi homestead to see Clara who was unwell but Shingai told them to go away.
After the villagers left, Shingai allegedly dragged his mother into a granary and strangled her using a white nylon cloth. He left the body there as he went off to Sedze Business Centre.
“He came back around 8pm and took advantage of the darkness to drag Clara`s body to her bedroom where he hanged it from the roof trusses using the same cloth,” said Manicaland police spokesperson, Inspector Enock Chishiri.
In the afternoon of the following day, Shingai told police he had found his mother`s body hanging from roof trusses in her bedroom.
However, officers who attended the scene suspected foul play and called in homicide detectives.
The detectives interrogated Shingai who then admitted killing his mother over the rent dispute.