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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
TWO men from Beitbridge who robbed a taxi driver they had hired of valuables including a cell phone and a Honda Fit all worth US$4 100 have been jailed for an effective nine years.
Pardon Chamunorwa (30) and Edson Takwanisa Hardson (29) are accused of stripping the complainant of his belongings and the car on October 22 after hiring him for transportation from Dulivhadzimu Suburb to the Beitbridge Border Post.
They were convicted on their own plea of guilty to charges of robbery when they appeared before regional magistrate, Mr Innocent Bepura on Thursday.
The two accused persons were left with nine years effective in jail after one year was conditionally set aside for 5 years.
Prosecuting, Mr Claudius Karinga said on October 22 this year at around 3 am, the two men hired the complainant who was driving a black Honda Fit to take them to the border.
He said they agreed on a service fee of R20.
Along the way, Chamunorwa pretended to be talking to someone who was in the low-density suburb and wanted to see both men.
He then asked the taxi driver to divert the route via the low-density suburb and said he would top up the transportation fee.
The court heard that while in the suburb, when the driver was negotiating an intersection, Hardson who was sitting behind him, tied the man with a plastic rope on the neck and ordered him to stop the vehicle.
Chamunorwa drew an okapi knife from his pocket and put it on the man’s neck they then removed him from the driver’s seat.
Chamunorwa drove the vehicle towards 1 Independence Barracks, where they dumped the man and went away.
A report was then made to the police who recovered the vehicle in Masvingo at Nyika growth point and arrested the two men following intensive investigations.
The complainant’s cell phone and the Honda Fit worth US$4070 were recovered from the accused persons, but the cash was not accounted for.
-@tupeyo
derick.khumalo