Hilton Chironga’s ordeal and that of his mother and sister did not end with the killing of his brother. He told Human Rights Watch: We were later put on a truck and driven to a base at Tetra Commercial Farm together with the bodies of my brother and the two other victims. They dumped their bodies at Tetra farm. We were put in an open area and ordered to drink paraquat poison, which they told us would finish us off. As they forced us to drink the poison I shouted to my mother and sister not to swallow the poison. However my neighbor (who was Hama Madamombe’s brother) did not hear the warning and swallowed the poison. Four of us were forced to drink the poison, myself, my mother, my sister and Madamombe. Afterwards they said, “Let us leave them here to die. We shall collect the bodies after a week.” After they left my sister managed to crawl and call for help.23 Hilton Chironga and his mother were taken to Harare hospital and his sister was admitted at Mvurwi hospital. The police did not look for the assailants but arrested Hilton Chironga, his mother and sister on charges of public violence. His sister, upon being discharged from hospital, was immediately arrested and taken to Bindura police station. Hama Madamombe’s brother later died in the hospital, according to Chironga, as a result of the poison he was forced to drink. Nelia Chironga, the 70-year-old mother of Gibbs and Hilton, told Human Rights Watch: I am an old woman and they beat me like a dog, no, a wild animal. They insulted me; they beat me on the back and in the ribs. My only crime was that my son was an MDC councilor. I am in great pain. The poison badly affected me. I am old and may not recover from this experience. Now my son is in the mortuary, I am unable to bury him. I will not be there when he is buried, if he is buried. I regret being alive. 23 Ibid. “They Beat Me Like a Dog” 12