Online Reporter
FOR Sergeant Paul Mutingoringo Dzimbanhete, the phrase “making the evidence disappear” was not a figure of speech — it was a literal, and disastrous, plan.
The 32-year-old officer from Karoi Urban Police Station earned a 30-month jail term after a bribery sting ended with him attempting to have his US$50 bribe . . . and eat it too.
The saga began when Sgt Dzimbanhete, manning a roadblock, decided his salary was not cutting it. He pulled over motorist Olly Mcupi, confiscated his certificate of competency, and presented a creative interpretation of police work: a US$50 “release fee”.
Unluckily for the sergeant, Mcupi and his father, Sebastian Chinyemba, were not fans of this new, unofficial tax. They took the matter to the Police General Headquarters, who promptly set a trap.
The stage was set at TM Supermarket in Karoi. Mcupi, playing the part of the compliant citizen, met the sergeant.
Dzimbanhete, oozing with misplaced confidence, returned the licence and palmed the marked US$50. What he did not spot was the internal investigations team filming the entire performance for his soon-to-be-released blooper reel. As officers moved in for the arrest, Dzimbanhete’s fight-or-flight response kicked in, but his brain apparently suggested a third option: digest.
In a move that defied both the law and basic table manners, the sergeant crammed the marked bill into his mouth and swallowed.
It was a bold, if biologically baffling, attempt at a cover-up that left his colleagues staring in a mixture of horror and profound second-hand embarrassment.
The court later heard that while his stomach acids were working on the note, they were no match for the crystal-clear video evidence and the testimony of several stunned officers.
A search also uncovered a notebook where Dzimbanhete had creatively logged Mcupi’s “crime” as “dangerous parking”— a fiction almost as hard to swallow as the cash.
The magistrate was not amused by the sergeant’s dietary choices, ruling that his assault on public trust was, frankly, indigestible.
He was sentenced to 36 months in prison, with six months suspended, leaving him with a solid 30 months to reflect on the fact that when it comes to bribes, you really cannot have your cake and eat it too.
For his spectacular failure to understand basic metaphors and his starring role in the most undignified police sting of the year, Sergeant Dzimbanhete has proven that crime does not pay — but in his case, it certainly came with a side of consequences.
