My son and his two friends locked themselves inside one of the rooms but ZANU-PF youths broke down all the window panes and doors in the house and entered the room where the three young men were hiding. We were watching helpless from a distance when they begun to assault the young men using iron rods. After assaulting them they shot them in the head, three times each. They were using AK-47 [military assault] rifles. We attempted to rescue my son and his friends but the attackers fired at us and narrowly missed me. We were forced to retreat. After that we saw them take the bodies to a crèche [nursery school] nearby, where they used axes to crush their heads. They killed all three men: Archiford my son, 28, Ngoni Knight, 27, and Yona Gent, 22. A fourth victim was a young man who just happened to be passing by through my street at the time. No one knows who he is and up to now the body is still at the mortuary at Harare hospital.20 The councilor provided Human Rights Watch with a post-mortem report that was conducted and written by a government doctor at the request of the police. The postmortem indicated the cause of death for all the victims as skull fractures and head injuries due to gunshot wounds. Gibbs Chironga – MDC Councilor, Chiweshe Gibbs Chironga was killed by a group of 150 armed ZANU-PF supporters, youth militia and “war veterans” on June 20. His brother Hilton Chironga, who witnessed the killing and was himself shot and subjected to vicious beatings by the ZANU-PF gang, told Human Rights Watch: It was early in the morning around 8 a.m. when they came to our home. They approached from different directions and completely surrounded the house. I was in the house with my brother Gibbs, who had been elected MDC councilor for our ward during the March 29 elections, my sister Sandra, my mother Nelia, and my nephew Frank. About 20 people in the group were armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols. My 20 Human Rights Watch interview with Philimon Chipiyo, Chitungwiza, July 6, 2008. “They Beat Me Like a Dog” 10