Father and sons robbery gang nabbed

Elizabeth Tsuro Midlands Reporter
SIX family members, including a father and his three sons who terrorised Gweru residents by breaking into their homes, stealing various items including 43 television sets worth more than $10,000 have been arrested.

Gweru magistrate Musaiwona Shotgame said it was unusual for a father to team up with his sons to go on a stealing spree.

Mack Mack, 46, his sons Clayton, 25, Alexio, 24, and Roy, 21, all of Mkoba suburb, their two relatives — Brian Banda, 22, of Ascot suburb as well as Raphael Mahara Alias Trymore Munhenga, 26, of Stoneridge Park in Harare — appeared in court yesterday facing 14 counts of unlawful entry and theft.

The six, who pleaded not guilty, were remanded in custody to today for trial. The state has lined up 12 witnesses to testify in the matter. The suspects are accused of stealing television sets and laptops worth more than $10,300 in five months.

“This is very unusual to see a father and his sons indulging in crime and from the way it looks, this was a well-planned thing,” said magistrate Shotgame.

Prosecuting, Bernard Nyoni said between March and August this year, Mack and his sons and two other relatives broke into people’s homes through windows after cutting burglar bars.

He said the gang would use an unknown object to cut the burglar bars to gain entry into targeted houses. Nyoni said on March 22, one of them unlawfully entered and stole a television set at a house in Gweru East.

He told the court that on August 25, using the same modus operandi, the gang stole a 32-inch plasma television set and a laptop in Windsor Park. “Again on August 26, the gang also broke into Gonzo’s residence in Windsor Park and stole three television sets. Using the same method of cutting burglar bars off windows, the gang broke into five different residences on August 28 and stole nine television sets and a laptop,” said Nyoni.

He said the gang later gave Munhenga eight plasma television sets to sell in Harare.

The six were arrested by the police in Mkoba following a tip off by a suspicious neighbour who saw them with television sets at Mack’s house. “Of the stolen television sets, eight were recovered in Harare, two in Mkoba Village 2 and four at Mack’s home in Mkoba Village 16 and the laptops were never recovered,” said Nyoni.