Published by the government of Zimbabwe
23 July 2008
Harare — A 22-year-old National Parks and Wildlife management warder, stationed at White Water National Park in Matobo District, died after shooting himself with his service rifle following a run-in with the police over poaching of a rhinoceros.
Matebeleland South provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe said the incident occurred at around 8am on Sunday morning.
He said the man was a suspect in a case involving the killing of a rhinoceros in the park and was under investigation.
Inspector Dzirutwe said on the day in question the deceased was on patrol in the park along with three other rangers.
"During the process, he excused himself from other rangers saying he wanted to relieve himself. A few minutes later his workmates heard a gunshot from that direction and they rushed to investigate," he said.
The man, Insp Dzirutwe explained, was found lying in a pool of blood and a report was made to police who discovered that he had shot himself through the mouth.
Further investigations revealed that the man had left a suicide note at his house indicating that police had interrogated him over the killing of a rhinoceros in the park.
Inspector Dzirutwe said the man's body was taken to hospital for a postmortem.
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