adminAuxilia Katongomara Court Reporter
AN ARMED robber who claimed police had, at gunpoint, forced him to admit to a crime he did not commit, was yesterday slapped with a 12-year jail sentence.Blessmore Mutero, 32, of Chegutu, who was armed with a machete during a raid on a Bulawayo business, told the court during cross-examination that detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) routinely murdered armed robbers and he had been forced to admit a crime he did not commit.
“The detectives at the CID forced me to admit committing the crime at gunpoint and I had no choice but to admit that I committed the robbery,” he said.
Mutero accused the detectives of threatening him with death for denying the crime.
During the trial, he claimed that detectives had showed him several pictures of armed robbers whom they claimed to have shot for denying their crimes.
But this did not stop regional magistrate Sikhumbuzo Nyathi from convicting Mutero as he had done with his accomplice, Enias Sibanda, who was jailed for nine years.
Appearing for the state, Masimba Saruwaka said on December 8 at around 6PM, the two men, armed with a machete, entered Fair and Square Investments at Compensation House in Bulawayo and ordered Caroline Mpofu and Evelyn Padya to lie on the floor.
The duo ordered Mpofu and Padya to hand over property belonging to Dumisani Kodzai.
Kodzai is a local businessman and director of Dickies Restaurants.
“The two grabbed $5,000 and R1,800 cash, as well as electric gadgets and top-of-the-range cellphones before fleeing the scene,” said Saruwaka.
He said on February 9 this year, Sibanda was arrested by detectives from CID in Chegutu after committing a similar crime at a complex in the town.
Upon interrogation, it came to light that he had earlier committed another robbery in Bulawayo.
He led the detectives to Mutero and they recovered part of the stolen goods stashed in his rooftop in Chegutu.
The total value of stolen goods was $20,572 and property worth $7,157 was recovered.
In passing judgment, magistrate Nyathi said cases of armed robbery were on the increase and attracted a custodial sentence to serve as an example to would-be offenders.
“I’ve considered that you’re a young man who probably acted out of immaturity, but from the evidence submitted here, you were the mastermind of this crime,” he said.
Mutero was slapped with a 12-year sentence, half of which was suspended on condition that he pays back $13,415 to Kodzai by December 31 this year.
The magistrate said he had ordered the forfeiture of a Toyota Sprinter recovered in Mutero’s possession to Kodzai and the police to facilitate its registration to Kodzai or help him sell it.
Nyathi also ordered the release of property recovered to be given to Kodzai. In mitigation, Mutero pleaded for a lesser sentence and told the court that he was self-employed and was the breadwinner in his family.
He said he had inherited all the assets he had from his late father.
Online Reporter