adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
A 44-year-old former police officer was recently slapped with an effective eight-year jail term for conniving with two other men from Beitbridge to rob a Mutare-based pastor of $1,000, a cellphone and bank cards at gunpoint.
The ex-cop, Terrence Muguta of public works houses in Beitbridge, pleaded not guilty to armed robbery when he appeared before Matabeleland South regional magistrate Joseph Maveza but was convicted due to overwhelming evidence.
Jotham Mutangamira, 35, of Dulibadzimu suburb in the border town was acquitted while the other alleged accomplice Samuel Mukonoweshuro, 44, a clearing agent in Mutare, is still on the run.
Muguta who was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment will however serve an effective eight years jail after four years were suspended for five years on condition that he is not within that period convicted of a similar offence.
Prosecuting, Johannes Tlou told the court that on May 20 last year, Muguta and the alleged accomplices connived to rob Zvaitwa Makukutu, an AFM pastor who was travelling from Mutare to Musina in South Africa where he intended to buy a motor vehicle.
He said soon after dropping off at Dulibadzimu bus terminus in the border town at around 2.30AM, Makukutu called Mukonoweshuro whom he had engaged as a clearing agent to assist him to clear his vehicle from South Africa.
The pastor had already paid $800 to Mukonoweshuro as a deposit.
Makukutu and Mukonoweshuro met and the clearing agent arranged for a taxi to ferry them to a local lodge to seek accommodation.
While on their way, Mukonoweshuro allegedly alerted Mutangamira that they were heading to the lodge so that he could follow them.
When they arrived, Mukonoweshuro suggested that they should seek accommodation at another lodge which was 80 metres away.
Along the way, armed with a CZ pistol, Muguta and Mutangamira waylaid them.
Muguta, who was holding the pistol, ordered the pastor to lie down while Mutangamira grabbed Mukonoweshuro and held him to the ground and later on searched the two men. Muguta and Mutangamira took away cash $1,013; a Nokia cellphone; bank cards and other identification documents from the pastor.
The two did not take anything from Mukonoweshuro who had an HTC smart-phone, before disappearing into the bush.
The matter was reported to police and Mukonoweshuro indicated that he had been robbed of $3,600; a Nokia and Samsung cellphones when in actual fact nothing had been stolen from him.
Muguta was arrested on May 24 following a tip off leading to the recovery of a loaded CZ pistol that was hidden in the vehicle that he was driving.
During interrogations, the ex-cop implicated Mukonoweshuro and Mutangamira.
Online Reporter