*Death, prison and fear haunt their home
A Makobo family has been ripped apart by heartbreak, death, and betrayal. A grandmother dead, a mother and daughter behind bars, and children left to grow up without their parents.
A dark cloud befall the family on June 9th. Ruth Fana, a respected teacher from Matobo, and her daughter Onalenna now sit in prison cells, accused of killing their 71-year-old mother and grandmother, Elicah Fana.
Last week Tuesday, Ruth’s brother, Eliot Fana, took the stand, trembling as he was clearly torn between family loyalty and fear.
“The court is putting me in a tight corner,” he confessed. “Since the death of my mother, the only time I saw my sister was at the funeral. I fear them… even to speak in front of them, I fear,” Ruth’s only sibling said as he opposed bail application by his sister and nephew.
“I’m asking myself what their plan was if they had not been arrested,” he said.
According to reports, Ruth and Onalenna allegedly beat Elicah to death with metal objects, leaving her lifeless before driving back to Matobo as if nothing had happened.
The mother and daughter pleaded with court to release them so they could take care of Onalenna’s two children. One has been placed under the care of social workers, whilst the other stays with a neighbor in Matobo.
When the Voice visited the teacher a few days after her mother’s death, Ruth was scrubbing blood splatter from the wall, a haunting image that still lingers in this reporter’s mind.
But Ruth insists she is innocent. In an earlier interview with The Voice, she claimed her mother was murdered by Zimbabwean men she had hired to help on the fields.
However, the case took a chilling turn when a witness told the police they saw her car hidden in the bush near Matobo the night Elicah died, and they were immediately arrested.
The Fana home, once filled with laughter, now stands in silence, haunted by the innocent blood of an old woman.
