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Tsenulo Moyo
TWO men from Bulawayo have appeared in court for theft and robbery, which took place at Fools Mine in Hope Fountain, situated on the outskirts of Bulawayo.
Irvine Bhekinkosi Msimanga (28) and Brighton Nyoni (30) both appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Joseph Mabeza.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges and matter was remanded to 29 August for continuation of trial.
In his defense, Msimanga said he was at Nyoni’s homestead at the time of the alleged robbery.
Nyoni also said he had gone to his rural home to leave groceries for his family by the time the alleged robbery took place.
He further said he did not go to the mine on the day of the alleged gold ore theft. In fact, he was at home when he found Msimanga offloading the gold ore.
Wisdom Ncube, a witness, said he saw Msimanga at the mine on the day the gold ore theft occurred.
Circumstances are that on 23 November 2022, Msimanga, Nyoni and others who are still at large went to Fools Mine at around 8:30 PM armed with two black pellet guns, two machetes, one spray gun, a chisel, and an iron rod.
The accused persons then used a spray gun to spray the mine workers, who fled in different directions, leaving the mine unguarded. Two other mine workers, Nkosentsha Siziba and Mikel Sibanda, failed to run away and were caught by the accused persons.
The accused persons went on to assault Siziba using open hands and threatened to harm him.
The accused persons are said to have robbed Siziba of two small itel cell phones, 30 kilograms of gold ore, US$5, and pushed him into a two-metre-deep shaft.
The accused persons also forced Sibanda to show them where they mined the gold ore and dug 30 kilogrammes of gold ore before leaving.
The court also heard that on 25 November 2022, at around 7pm the accused persons, along with Lungani Tshaliba and others who are still at large, went to Fools Mine driving a white Isuzu pick-up truck with a red compressor on the loading box.
The other two accused persons were armed with two pellet guns while others set up the compressor.
The accused persons got into the mine shaft and started digging for gold ore. They then loaded approximately a tonne of gold ore the following morning and left.
The suspects were arrested after the police received a tip-off that the accused persons were driving towards Bulawayo with stolen ore. A team of police officers, including the dog section, was dispatched to follow up.
The accused persons were found offloading gold ore at one of the accuseds’ place of residence, leading to their arrest.
Online Reporter