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Bulawayo Bureau
A Filabusi man who robbed a shop armed with an AK-47 will serve an effective six years in jail. Gwanda regional magistrate Mr Joseph Mabeza on Friday convicted Judge Sibanda (20) of Theleka area on his own plea of guilty. Sibanda told the court that he stole the firearm from his father’s bedroom where it was under the bed, stashed it in a sack which he hid inside a big jacket and went away without being noticed.
Sibanda said he covered his face as he committed the robbery, so that he could not be easily identified. Mr Mabeza sentenced him to nine years jail for armed robbery but suspended three years for five years. For possessing a firearm without a licence, Mabeza fined Sibanda $100 or a month in prison.
The court heard that on October 7 this year, Sibanda pounced on a Filabusi shop, Cover Hardware at Mahole Business Centre, armed with an AK-47 in broad daylight and tried to take off with a till holding $135.
The shop was being manned by a woman who screamed alerting other villagers. Sibanda tried to run away but the villagers chased after him, and in effort to escape the mob, he tried to shoot but the gun jammed. Villagers disarmed him and locked him in one of the shops at the business centre before handing him over to the police.
Mr Johannes Tlou prosecuted. Meanwhile, Sibanda’s father, Levy (47), was last week also convicted on his own plea of guilty for possessing a gun without a licence, after he said he was the owner of the AK-47 gun that his son used to rob the hardware shop.
Levy was fined $500 (or six months) for unlawfully possessing the firearm, which he said he had found underground while mining. He said he took the gun and kept it at his homestead for close to a year. The AK-47 assault rifle had a loaded magazine with 18 live rounds.
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