adminMpumelelo Nyoni Court Reporter
TWO men have been arrested for manufacturing a gun silencer. Theuns Frederick Steyn and Godfrey Chigweshe appeared before Tinashe Tashaya charged with dealing in firearms without being registered. Prosecuting, Simbarashe Manyiwa told the court that in December 2010 Steyn approached Chigweshe with a half manufactured silencer and asked him to work on it at his workplace.
“Steyn is a former Kango Products employee. He approached Chigweshe who is the acting factory manager at Kango.
“Chigweshe then instructed a Thembelani Mahlangu, a turner machinist at Kango Products, to work on the silencer,” said Manyiwa.
“Acting on a tip-off, Criminal Investigations Department (CID) detectives arrested Chigweshe who then implicated Steyn leading to his arrest.”
The two are friends and Chigweshe told the court that Steyn told him that the silencer was a toy that he was making.
The prosecutor also told the court that on June 26 this year, a search was conducted at Steyn’s residence but the gun silencer was not recovered.
In his defence, Steyn said he was just experimenting.
“I didn’t know the silencer could pose any danger and I was just carrying out a project. I destroyed it as soon as I discovered that it could be a danger,” said Steyn.
The two were remanded out of custody to Monday.
Online Reporter