As police pall bearers lowered the coffin carrying the body of slain senior police officer, Inspector Maxwell Hove, to its final resting place at his homestead in Chinda Village of Mberengwa yesterday his wife Nelia wailed uncontrollably.

Village elders who constituted the majority of mourners cried silently, wiping off tears rolling off their cheeks with the back of their hands in apparent agony.

Even some of his colleagues could be seen struggling to contain their emotions.

It was all sombre as speaker after speaker described the late police Inspector as a good man who least deserved such a violent death.

Inspector Hove who was Officer-in-Charge of Wedza Police Station was allegedly shot and killed by Jason Muvevi last week in a frenzied shooting incident that left three dead.

Another police officer sustained serious injuries as Muvevi who is now in police custody attacked a police truck as the police tracked him before he disarmed the officers.

Hundreds of mourners who include senior police officers, relatives and friends yesterday thronged Insp Hove's homestead to give the man who died in the line of duty a befitting send off.

Police Deputy Commissioner General Responsible for Crime, Lorraine Chipato who also attended the burial described the slain police officer as a hero who died on duty.

She said the late Inspector Hove was as a dedicated, courageous and committed police officer who was devoted to his work.

"I want to say this, it's not only the Hove family who have lost their relative but as the force, we have lost a dedicated and devoted cadre who was so passionate about his duties," said Dep Comm Chipato.

Inspector Hove' father Mr Eleck Hove said the family lost a unifier who always wanted to see the family united.

"We have lost as a family. Maxwell was a caring and responsible loving man who loved everyone. He was a pillar of strength and family unifier," he said

The late Inspector Hove, joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police in 1999. He is survived by wife Nelia Shava and four children.