Vusumuzi Dube
Two men from Binga and Chiredzi are to spend the next nine years in jail for separate cases of stock theft, the National Prosecution Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) has reported.
In a post on X, the NPAZ said the Chiredzi Magistrates’ Court sentenced Misheck Bereredzani to the mandatory jail term after he stole another villager’s ox from the grazing lands on July 4 this year.
The complainant discovered that one of his oxen was missing when he was herding them back home from the grazing lands.
On July 18, another villager told the complainant that his missing ox valued at US$600 was stolen by Bereredzani.
A police report was made and investigations led to his arrest. The NPAZ said in Binga, Nephias Mwembe (44) from Chinonge Village was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by the Binga Magistrates’ Court for stock theft.
On June 23, the complainant took his cattle to the Chinonge grazing lands and left them unattended. The following day, Mwembe went to the grazing lands and took one of the complainant’s cows and left unnoticed.
When he arrived home, he forced his wife to help him to slaughter the cow. The complainant tracked the spoor of the beast and it led him to a burning cowhide near Mwembe’s homestead. Suspecting it might be his cow, the complainant reported the incident to a police officer.
Together, they went to Mwembe’s homestead and found him in possession of parts of a carcass which the complainant positively identified as his missing cow. The stolen cow was valued at US$300 and nothing was recovered.
Mwembe was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment but the magistrates’ court conditionally suspended three years of the prison term for five years, leaving Mwembe to serve an effective nine years.
New Ziana
Bongani Ndlovu