In a painful case of mistaken identity, a bereaved Gweru family buried a wrong body, only to be alerted to the mishap by the other grieving family which discovered the body swap during body viewing.
The rare mix-up involved the bodies of Takudzwa Chipadza and Courage Sibanda, both of whom tragically lost their lives in separate incidents at Mkoba 14 and 16 business centres, respectively.
According to police, Chipadza’s family collected what it believed to be Takudzwa’s body from Gweru Provincial Hospital mortuary on December 6, and proceeded to bury it the next day at Mutasa cemetery in the city.
On the same day, Sibanda’s family collected what it thought was Courage’s body from the same mortuary, and proceeded to Somabhula for the funeral, only to discover the body swap during body viewing.
“The family advised Gweru Provincial Hospital authorities about the incident and Takudzwa’s relatives were engaged. Upon identification of the body, both families agreed that the body which had been brought back was that of Takudzwa Chipadza. Courage Sibanda had been mistakenly buried (by the wrong family),” police said.
Exhumation of Sibanda’s body was then ordered, and done a week later, and the bodies handed to their respective proper families for burial.
The funerals of both were expected to take place on Friday.
New Ziana
