KAROI – Police have raised alarm over a spate of brutal killings committed by mentally ill individuals, after two separate rampages in Karoi and Bulilima left at least eight people dead — including a four-year-old child and two centenarians.
In the latest incident, which occurred on August 18, 2025, in Makoni Village, Tengwe, Patrick Makufa, a known mental health patient, allegedly killed three people using an axe handle.
Police said Makufa first struck Constaine Mabheka, 55, several times on the head, before turning on Kunashe Mabheka, 4, and fatally assaulting her. He then ambushed Atilda Mharadze, 19, killing her with repeated blows. All three victims died on the spot. Makufa has since been arrested.
The murders came just days after a separate massacre in Madlambuzi, Bulilima, where Phamani Sibanda, 43 — also described as a mental patient — went on a rampage on August 13, 2025, killing five people and injuring two others as he moved aggressively through Bellas and Central villages armed with a Mopani log, blunt objects and a sharp weapon.
Among Sibanda’s victims were some of the community’s oldest residents — Elliot Khupe, 101, and Butho Tshuma, 97, — as well as Constance Sibanda, 66, Catra Matsika, 72, and six-year-old Tiffan Surprise Ndlovu. Two women, aged 90 and 41, survived the assault but were hospitalised at Madlambuzi Clinic and Plumtree District Hospital.
Police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the back-to-back tragedies underscore a growing national crisis of untreated mental illness leading to violence.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police urges the public to exercise caution, particularly when interacting with individuals with mental health challenges,” Nyathi said.
“We implore families and guardians of individuals with mental health issues to seek professional help and ensure that they receive the necessary support and treatment on time.”
Nyathi stressed that mental health patients must be closely monitored and referred to medical institutions early to prevent such outbreaks of deadly violence.
The twin rampages — one in the west and another in the north of the country — have sparked calls for urgent investment in mental health services, especially in rural communities where access to psychiatric care is scarce.
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