Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THREE armed robbers pounced on three people in Bulawayo before crashing a highjacked Honda Fit taxi, leading to the arrest of one of the suspects.
The gang robbed the three people within a space of three hours on Tuesday between 10am and 12.30pm.
Bulawayo police spokesman Inspector Abednico Ncube said yesterday that Nick Ngwenya who has since been arrested, started by carjacking a taxi after pretending to be hiring it to Hillside suburb.
He said Ngwenya tricked the taxi driver into driving him from the city centre to Hillside suburb where he carjacked him.
“The accused hired the taxi driver purporting to be a genuine client who wanted to collect his generator at number 22 Norfolk Road, Hillside. When they arrived at the said address, the accused disembarked and went away for a while. The accused came back to the taxi where he allegedly tripped the complainant before stabbing him once on the left palm with an unknown object,” said Insp Ncube.
He said the suspect got away with the car worth US$ 2000 and $50.
Insp Ncube said after that Ngwenya, in the company of two other suspects went to Parklands suburb and raided a 21-year-old woman who was walking with her 10-year-old sibling to the local shops.
“The accused persons who were wielding a bluish knife demanded that the complainant surrender her property which included a black Samsung note 8 cellphone before speeding away. The total stolen value is US$400 and R500,” said Insp Ncube.
“After that the three drove towards Scone Drive in Killarney suburb where they met their third victim, a female aged 20 years of age who was on her way to town. The accused persons offered complainant a lift and charged her $5 but she insisted she could not go with them as she only had $2. They forcibly grabbed the complainant and took away her purse which had R1 550, US$24, $28 and Huawei Y3 2018 cellphone.”
He said the criminals also stabbed her with a kitchen knife on the forehead while the other stabbed her once on the right hand with a screw driver.
Insp Ncube said their victim screamed attracting attention of members of the public who rushed to the scene.
“The accused jumped into their car and sped off with the public in pursuit. Ngwenya who was driving, lost control of the car and it rammed into a precast wall. Seeing that the people were still in hot pursuit, they bolted out and started running but members of the public managed to apprehend Ngwenya and handed him to the police,” said Insp Ncube.
He said the suspect was found with a Hisense cellphone, Samsung Note 8, a medical scissors, kitchen knife, two small screw drivers and $6.
Insp Ncube said the suspect was positively identified by his first victim at Kumalo Police Station.
He commended members of the public for apprehending the suspect.
“Community policing initiatives are indeed paying dividends. Bulawayo residents are fully embracing the aspect of collective action in the fight against crime. The suspects will clear a number of cases that were becoming a headache to the community,” said Insp Ncube.
A witness who preferred not to be named said he was shocked to see accident victims bolting out of a car after crashing.
“I saw a car speeding down the road and its driver lost control and it rolled before hitting a precast wall. Three men came out of the vehicle and started running. I got so confused because I thought they had been injured and I shouted to them to stop so we could assist them,” said the witness.
He said a few minutes later he saw their bleeding victim heading towards their direction while being followed by a group of people.
“That is when I realised that those guys were criminals. A few minutes later some residents brought one of the suspects where the vehicle had crashed. The mob took turns to beat him before surrendering him to the police,” he said. — @nqotshili
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