ITV/Radio One Reporter, Ufoo Saro, who was shot and seriously injured by her fiance, who also shot the reporter’s mother dead before taking his own life, is in a stable condition after a successful operation at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH).
Ufoo Saro
The family spokesperson, Mr Idd Lema, said that Ms Saro’s condition was stable and she was recovering well at the national hospital, Kibasila ward.
Mr Lema explained that Mrs Anastazia Saro’s body would be transported today to Shari village in Machame, Kilimanjaro Region, after people had paid their last respects that will be held at her home at Kibamba CCM, on the outskirts of the city.
“The deceased’s body will be transported to Shari in Machame for burial and we expect to start the journey tomorrow (today) afternoon, after paying the last respects,” he explained.
The journalist, who works for ITV/Radio One, was shot and seriously injured on Sunday morning in what many suspect to be a quarrel over love that left her mother and her fiance dead. The fiance, Mr Anthery Mushi (40), who was based in Sudan, committed the heinous act before taking his own life.
A close friend, who declined to be named, said Mr Mushi worked with ITV before joining the United Nations where he worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha and later was stationed in Sudan.
Kinondoni Regional Police Commander (RPC), Camilius Wambura, said the incident took place at Kibamba CCM at around 6.30 in the morning.
Wambura said the shooting was preceded by a conflict between the couple who had gone to Kibamba CCM where Ms Saro’s mother, Mrs Anastazia Peter Saro (58), resided.
He said the assailant arrived on Saturday from Sudan where he was working as a telecommunication engineer with the United Nations and went straight to his fiance’s home at Mbezi Magari Saba.
“Early in the morning at around 6:00 yesterday (Sunday), the two drove to Kibamba CCM to seek intervention in a family dispute.
It seems that the intervention did not go well, because at around 6.30 am the assailant shot his fiancee’s mother on the chest, shot his fiancee on her stomach before shooting himself under the chin,” RPC Wambura explained.
He added that before he shot himself the assailant tried to shoot Ufoo Saro’s siblings, who scampered away in fright and narrowly escaped death.
The commander explained that Ms Saro was at MNH fighting for her life while doctors were operating on her to remove bullets. The bodies of the deceased have been preserved at the national hospital. Further details from Ufoo Saro’s sibling, Goodluck Saro (26), show that more people would have been shot.
However, escaping through the roof saved their lives. Goodluck, who was still dazed from the incident, said they did not expect something like that from the assailant, whom he described as polite and soft-spoken.
“They came together with Ufoo early in the morning in my sister’s car at around 6 am and he greeted us before they went inside the house for discussions with our mother,” Goodluck said.
Shortly afterwards, they heard gunshots and their mother calling out that she was dying and when they tried to open the door to find out what was going on, more gunshots were heard from the sitting room.
“When we wanted to know what was going on, we saw our sister Ufoo at the door of our room telling us to close the door because he was going to kill us all…stressing that we should find a way to save ourselves,” he explained.
That is when they decided to scale the walls of the room and escaped through the roof and ran all way to the nearest neighbours and called for help.
When they came back with help, they were all scared to go inside the house, fearing they would be shot, until the police arrived.
While in the company of police, they went inside the house only to find the assailant on one of the sofas with a gunshot wound under his chin while their mother lay on the floor. Both were dead.
After failing to find their sister in the house, they looked for her outside and met with a motorcyclist who told them that he had met with a woman who was covered in blood who had asked to be rushed to Tumbi Hospital.
“The police took the pistol, bullet shells and the bag that the assailant carried. They found a rope, a double-bladed axe and handcuffs inside the bag,’’ he narrated.
Source Tanzania Daily News
