Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Chisepo
Court Correspondent
A HARARE gardener, who stole elephant tusks from his employer, has been sentenced to 210 hours of community service.
Farai Matenderuke (39) appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Lisah Mutendereki, facing theft charges involving two marked elephant tusks weighing 5,35 kilogrammes and valued at US$909,50.
He was initially sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, with six months suspended on condition of good behaviour.
The remaining six months were suspended on condition that he completes 210 hours of community service at Greystone Park Clinic.
The State, represented by prosecutor Ms Polite Chikiwa, proved that in March 2024, Matenderuke discovered hidden ivory in a wardrobe at his employer’s residence in Borrowdale, where he was a gardener.
Taking advantage of being alone at the premises, he allegedly stole the tusks and hid them under a tree trunk outside the property’s security wall.
The court heard that after leaving his job and relocating to Greystone Park, where he secured new employment as a gardener, Matenderuke later returned to Borrowdale to retrieve the hidden ivory.
He allegedly took the tusks to his new workplace and began searching for potential buyers.
On April 19 this year, detectives from CID Highlands, acting on a tip-off, learnt that Matenderuke was attempting to sell ivory, mounted a decoy operation at Chisipite Business Centre. An undercover officer posing as a buyer met Matenderuke and requested to see the tusks.
He allegedly led the detective to his residence in Greystone Park, where he produced the tusks, wrapped in a black plastic bag and hidden in a corner of his bedroom.
The ivory, bearing serial numbers, was recovered.
It was later weighed and valued by Henry Chikonangombe, who confirmed the two tusks weighed 5,35 kilogrammes and were worth US$909,50.
