adminMpumelelo Nyoni Chronicle Reporter
TWO Bulawayo police officers were abducted and later assaulted by a kombi driver after they allegedly demanded a $200 bribe from him.
This was revealed when Tonderayi Samukange, 32, appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya for reckless driving, resisting and assaulting a police officer and failure to comply with an instruction from a police officer.
Prosecuting, Calington Dhliwayo told the court that Samukange abducted and then assaulted two police officers who wanted to arrest him for reckless driving.
The two officers — Kuengawenyu Kuengawenyu and Majaha Muitsho — both stationed at Bulawayo Central Police Station, allegedly spotted Samukange picking up passengers along 11th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street which is an undesignated point.
When the kombi driver was ordered to pay a $20 spot fine, he said he did not have it and was then instructed to drive to Bulawayo Central Police Station.
Dhliwayo said Samukange suddenly drove in the opposite direction.
“He threatened to take them to Plumtree for a beating and that is when an altercation arose,” he said.
Samukange, who was carrying seven other passengers, allegedly started speeding and when he was driving past Belmont area he started assaulting Kuengawenyu with open hands and fists on the face as the kombi swerved from left to right.
Muitsho allegedly tried to grab Samukange from the back resulting in the kombi hitting a perimeter wall in Bellevue.
The prosecutor said the kombi driver then got out of the kombi and tried to run away. He threw a brick that hit Muitsho on the forehead when he was giving chase.
A scuffle ensued and the two officers were rescued by fellow passengers.
Samukange was then taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station.
In his defence, the driver alleged that the two officers demanded a bribe from him for picking up passengers at an undesignated point.
He disputed that he had attacked them, but conceded that they fought after they refused to give him a receipt after paying a $20 fine.
Samukange said trouble started when the pair approached him while he was picking up passengers at Food for Less wholesalers situated between 11th Avenue and Herbert Chitepo Street.
“Kuengawenyu got into the passenger seat while Muitsho got into the front row behind the driver’s seat.
“They told me to pay a $20 spot fine and I complied. I then asked for a receipt but they told me to give them $200 or else they would take me to Central Police Station and beat me up,” he said.
Magistrate Tashaya remanded Samukange in custody to June 2 for trial.
Online Reporter