A miner was yesterday chopped to death at Big Creek Backdam, in the North West District (NWD) of Region One and the suspect has been detained.
The dead man has been identified as Oral Norton, 22, of Mourca, NWD
According to a police press release, the murder occurred at 9am.
Norton and the suspect were working in a mining pit, police said, when he was attacked by the suspect and chopped about the body. “It is suspected that the incident stemmed from the preparation of tea using a bark by the deceased during May this year, which resulted in the suspect taking ill after consumption,” the release said, while adding that investigations are continuing into the incident.
Sources in the North West stated that the man’s head had almost been severed in the attack. One source said that the men once worked together and the deceased was accused of boiling some poisonous substances apparently to make tea, which other miners consumed before falling ill.
After committing the act, the alleged perpetrator sat and waited for the police to arrive.
“It appears as if this man was just waiting for an opportunity to get back at the deceased,” the source told this newspaper.
This is the second murder to have occurred in the interior region this week. On Tuesday, the bloodied body of Brazilian national Maria Jose Assis Bazerra was found in a mining camp at Tiger Creek Backdam, Mahdia.
