BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA POLICE in Mashonaland East province have launched investigations into the suspected ritual murder of a seven-year-old boy, Tapiwa Makore, whose beheaded body was recovered outside the family’s vegetable garden on Friday. Makore, a Grade 1 pupil at Nyamutumbu Primary School in Murewa, also had his legs and hands missing. Mashonaland East provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza confirmed the incident, but referred questions to national police headquarters. According to information obtained by NewsDay, on September 17, at around 10am, the deceased was sent to scare away monkeys from the family’s vegetable garden. At around 3pm, the deceased’s parents went to the garden to water their vegetables, but could not find him. They launched a search and alerted other villagers. The villagers then joined in the search until midnight, to no avail. The following day, at around 5am, a villager found his six dogs feasting on the boy’s remains. He alerted the deceased’s father, Munyaradzi, who filed a police report. Police officers later attended the scene and discovered that a sharp object had been used to cut off the lad’s missing body parts.