A man was mauled to death by his own dogs who mistakenly believed he was an intruder, after a spate of attacks worldwide.
John Gavhera, 61, is believed to have forgotten the keys to his gate and so jumped into his garden.
His sudden presence is believed to have alerted his three boerboel dogs who attacked, biting him all over his body.
His neighbours heard the noise and tried to come to his aid, but had to stay out of the garden for fear of them also being bitten, New Zimbabwe reported.
The incident happened earlier this year in Zimbabwe ahead of a spate of vicious dog attacks across the world.
A police memo said: “The deceased jumped over the gate since he had forgotten the gate keys and since no one was at home and went inside the house to collect his toolbox.
“In no time the deceased was then heard rebuking his dog by a student who stays next door,
“The neighbours then saw through the precast wall the deceased lying on the ground whilst three Boer bulldogs were biting him all over the body, dragging him and tearing his clothes.”
The memo added a torn suit and phone was also found in the garden.
It comes as The Mirror demanded new laws on dangerous dogs after our investigation showed a 26% rise in attacks since the pandemic began in 2020.
The death of Ann Dunn, 65, this week was the ninth fatal attack in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record.
Dot Robinson, the mum of another victim, backs our campaign. She said: “We must end these nightmare deaths now.”
Heartbroken Dot last month did what no mother should have to do and attended the funeral of her own child, a daughter who was attacked and killed by a dog .
Today Dot, 67, speaks for the first time about the tragedy, breaking her silence to support our campaign to tighten the laws on dangerous dogs .
She told us: “We have to stop this hell. Something needs to happen, too many people have died.”
A Mirror probe today shows a disturbing rise in dog attacks since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
There were 7,790 incidents from January to July in 2020, rising to 9,834 for the same period this year – a 26% increase.
Since the Office for National Statistics began recording fatal dog attacks in 2013, there have never been more than five a year, but this year there have already been nine.
