Fake State House cop denied bail

Harare Bureau
A BOGUS policeman who was part of a syndicate targeting motorists in Harare accusing them of driving through a red robot near the State House before demanding cash for their freedom, has been denied bail.

Using their getaway car, the gang – armed with a pistol – would follow the motorists and threaten them with unspecified action if they failed to comply with their orders.

It is alleged they would order the victims to drive back to the State House before demanding cash so as to set them free.

Michael Dovo has since been arrested and brought to court while his accomplices are still at large.

Dovo, who has two pending cases of a similar nature before the same court, appeared before magistrate Tendai Mahwe facing three counts of armed robbery and extortion.

He was remanded in custody to March 19 and Mahwe advised him to apply for bail at the High Court.

Prosecutor Idah Maromo alleges that on February 12 George Mbewe and Peter Mwanza were driving from Harare Show Grounds to Pomona and as they were driving past the Airforce of Zimbabwe they were flashed by another vehicle.

When they stopped, they were confronted by Dovo and his accomplices who accused them of driving through a red robot.

Dovo, who was clad in a police uniform, indicated that they had been sent from the State House to arrest them for the alleged offence.

Dovo, it is alleged, produced a pistol and threatened to shoot the pair if they resisted arrest before ordering them to get back into their car. He also jumped in.

Dovo ordered them to drive to State House saying that they wanted to view the CCTV video footage of them driving through a red robot.

It is alleged that along the way Dovo demanded $1,000 from the pair so that he would free them but the complainants refused and said they did not have the money.

Dovo then searched them and stole $180.

On February 20 the gang allegedly stopped Kudakwashe Gamanya at the intersection of Churchill and Borrowdale roads and accused her driver Simbarashe Labana of passing through a red robot at State House.

Three of them introduced themselves as Central Intelligence Organisation agents while the fourth accused was clad in police uniform.

Dovo produced a pistol and threatened to shoot Gamanya and ordered her to drive back towards State House and she complied.

Along the way, the gang forcibly took the complainant’s wallet and stole $200.

They used the same method to rob Richman Zvina who was in the company of a friend.