Zimbabwe police hold two for 'acid drink' murder

The Australian government praised Zimbabwe today for the rapid arrest of two men who allegedly killed an accountant working for a British firm by forcing him to drink acid.

Philip Laing, 51, of Perth, who worked for the Eastern Highlands Tea Estate in Zimbabwe, was killed on Friday in a gang attack on the company’s offices.

Australia’s junior foreign minister, Chris Gallus, said today that Zimbabwe police had arrested two men, and expected to apprehend two other suspects soon.

“Over this matter we could not fault the Zimbabwean government,” Mr Gallus said. “Clearly, they took the crime extremely seriously.”

Mr Laing’s brother-in-law John Kirkman said the accountant and at least five other staff had interrupted four armed men during a robbery, The West Australian newspaper reported.

The robbers tied Mr Laing and other staff members to a tree and forced them to drink acid, Mr Laing was the only one who died.

The arrests come as relations between the two countries have deteriorated over Prime Minister John Howard’s repeated condemnation of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for human rights abuses and violence surrounding a 2002 presidential poll.

Mr Howard helped lead a successful campaign in 2002 to suspend Zimbabwe from the 54-nation Commonwealth group of former British colonies and bar the African leader from attending a summit of the organisation in Nigeria this month.

Mr Mugabe responded by withdrawing Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth and accusing Mr Howard of racism.