Three people of the same family in Musenselo Village in Chief Makasa’s Chiefdom of Mungwi District in Northern Province have been axed to death.

Northern Province Police Commanding Officer, Lucky Munkondya, who confirmed the matter to ZANIS, said the three were axed by a person believed to have a mental illness.

The incident was reported to police on Saturday by Kabisha Ward Councilor Lazarous Sampa.

Ms Munkondya has identified the trio as Benasha Shimpange 83, Elena Chibwe, 95, and Gracious Kasonde, 16, and named the suspect as Amos Mwape, 21, of the same village.

She said investigations revealed that on the material day, Mr Shimpange was left home alone and in good health by his son, Davies Mubanga, who went to cut trees in the nearby bush, and that upon his return from the bush, Mr Mubanga heard a scream of a child that his grandfather had been axed by Mwape.

Ms Munkondya added that upon hearing the information, Mubanga quickly rushed home, where he found his father, Shimpange, unconscious, while the suspect had left the scene with an axe.

She said Mr Mubanga later received information that his grandmother, Elena Chibwe, had also been axed by the same suspect.

Ms Munkondya explained that when Mubanga rushed to the scene, he found the grandmother alive with deep cuts on the head, and that she died as arrangements were being made to rush her to the hospital.

The Northern Province Police Commanding Officer further disclosed that the suspect also attacked and killed Kasonde, niece to Mr Mubanga, who was living a few meters from the first victim’s house, using an axe.

She has disclosed that members of the community mobilised themselves and managed to apprehend the suspect and later informed the police, who rushed to the crime scene.

She said the three bodies were picked up and deposited in Kasama General Hospital Mortuary by police, awaiting a postmortem before burial.

Ms Munkondya further indicated that an axe with stains of blood and a broken handle was also recovered.

The Northern Province Police Commanding Officer said preliminary investigations indicate that the suspect, who is under custody, is mentally ill and is currently not able to communicate with people.

She has since urged members of the public to desist from keeping people with such mental issues at home but instead take them to health institutions to avoid such incidents.