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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge’s notorious house breaker, Thobekani Mpofu (30), whose reign of terror had gone on for six months was on Wednesday jailed for an effective two years.
The accused was in the habit of breaking into houses using a crowbar or bolt cutter, targeting electrical gadgets. His tools of trade have since been recovered.
Mpofu was arrested last week following a tip off.
He was convicted to nine counts of unlawful entry and one count of possession of articles for criminal use when he appeared before Ms Vavariro Gabi.
Mpofu had pleaded guilty to the charges.
For the first charge of possession of articles for criminal use, he was fined US$100 or imprisonment for four months if he doesn’t pay by June 5 this year.
He was also slapped with four years’ imprisonment on the nine charges of unlawful entry. However, six months were conditionally suspended for five years.
A further 18 months were suspended on condition of restitution to the various complainants, leaving Mpofu with an effective 24 months imprisonment.
Prosecuting, Mr Tawanda Chigavazira said the accused was involved in a series of house breaking activities around Beitbridge from November 2023 until his arrest on May 6 this year.
The State said Mpofu would conduct surveillance on most premises before pouncing on them as soon as the owners left or slept.
Mpofu would pounce on his victims’ houses even during the day.
The court heard that during his reign of terror, the accused broke into nine properties where he stole electrical gadgets, among them solar batteries, television sets, inventors, stoves, printers, fridges, radio and TV speakers, food items and money.
All the cases were reported to the police and Mpofu was arrested after being spotted carrying a crowbar, a bolt cutter and padlock keys.
An assortment of electrical gadgets worth thousands of dollars was recovered during indications across the border town and they have since been positively identified by their owners.
Online Reporter