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FOUR City of Harare employees have been dragged to court facing unlawful entry and extortion charges.
Ignatius Verera, Costa Mabhandi, Kudakwashe Mudhabuyi and Taurai Tanga were denied bail when they appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi yesterday.
Verera and Mabhandi are employed by the City of Harare as chefs at Wilkins Hospital, while Mudhabuyi and Tanga work as security guards at the same institution.
Allegations are that between July and August last year, Verera and Mabhandi hatched a plan to steal from Wilkins Hospital.
It is further alleged that Verera jumped into the storeroom and stole solar panels, six cisterns, four toilet seats, copper pipes and a hose pipe.
He allegedly handed the stolen loot to Mabhandi.
It is alleged that Mudhabuyi and Tanga, who were on duty that night, bust Verera and Mabhandi committing the offence.
The court heard that instead of apprehending Verera and Mabhandi, Tanga and Mudhabuyi asked for US$15 to cover up the theft.
Moreover, they took Verera and Mabhandi to the crime scene and asked them to show them how they committed the offence.
After realising the modus operandi used by Verera and Mabhandi, Mudhabuyi connived with Marlon Mapfumo who is on the run for stealing from the hospital.
It is during this period when Mudhabuyi was apprehended and he implicated his accomplices.
The investigating officer stated that the four were not proper candidates for bail since the police are yet to recover some of the stolen property.
Some of the property was recovered from Mudhabuyi and Verera had already some of it.
The quartet failed to give a plausible defence when they were arraigned before the court yesterday.
Moses Mapanga led the State
Online Reporter