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Simbarashe Mudzivo Herald Reporter
The mother of Given Flint Matapure, the three-year-old boy who went missing at the Harare Agricultural Show almost three years ago, says the remains of her son will be buried any time from now as the police have completed their investigations. The grieving mother, Mrs Wengesai Matapure, who was sitting close to her husband, Owen, at a company premises in Southerton, Harare, told The Herald in an interview that they had come to accept the tragic loss of their son.

“I really don’t have any words for what happened,” she said. “It’s a mystery. As a family we have accepted the (police forensic) report and the reality to the matter. We no longer dispute the police findings.

“We now only await a few family procedures before a decent burial can be made but it should not take long.”
The grief-stricken father could not speak and appeared numbed by the tragic circumstances surrounding his son’s death.

The remains of Given, who vanished at the Harare Agricultural Show almost three years ago, have not yet been buried even after a forensic examination by South African pathologists was completed.

Last week, Harare Central Hospital director of operations Mr Peter Gwata said a few clarifications between the police and the deceased’s parents were still going on before the remains could be claimed for burial.

Given (pictured right) went missing at the Exhibition Park in August 2011 while in the company of the housemaid and was found dead three months later in an emotional case that drew public sympathy

The delay in the finalisation of the case has been traumatic and psychologically taxing to the mother and relatives.
“It has not been easy for us,” she said. “We have come to accept the tragedy. We have left everything in God’s hands.”

Mrs Matapure said although the family had accepted the death of their son, she wanted the perpetrators of the crime to be brought to book.

“Although we have accepted the fate of our son, we hope and pray that the people who killed my son will be arrested one day,” she said. “Justice must be done and we are confident that law enforcement agents will do something eventually.

“We leave everything to God. It’s beyond us.”