Hwange man steals mother, neighbour’s cattle, gets 18 years jail sentence

Fairness Moyana in Hwange

A Hwange man will rue the day he stole his neighbor and elderly mother’s cattle after he was slapped with an 18-year jail term for the offence.
Chasemore Ngwenya (37) of Mpongola village in Hwange District who remained elusive would five years later strike again, stealing another cow from a local villager before being caught red-handed skinning it.
Hwange provincial magistrate, Mrs Lindiwe Maphosa, convicted Chasemore on his own plea of guilt of two counts of stocktheft before sentencing him to nine years for each count.
However, since the sentences will run concurrently, he will serve an effective nine years.
The court heard that on a date unknown to the prosecutor, Mrs Bridget Ndlovu, but during the year 2019 and at Madumabisa grazing area, five of Jesse Ngwenya (64)’s head of cattle went missing. Three of the cattle were branded “VM26” while the other two calves were not. The total value of the stolen property is US$1 500 and nothing was recovered.
Five years later on 4 November 2024 at around 1700hrs Chasemore was found at GVZ grazing area by Sibongile Dube, Detective Constable Delight Garai Mandebvu and Det Constable Ellinet Moyo skinning a cow belonging to another elderly villager, Josephine Maseko (64) of 5 Miles Bhanga village before running away.
Dube called Maseko who proceeded to GVZ grazing area and identified her light brown cow with horns marked “V” cut on the other ear and with a brand mark “JMS” on the right side. Total value of stolen property is US$450 and nothing was recovered.
The matter was reported to the police and investigation revealed that Chasemore was the main suspect in the disappearance of his mother’s five head of cattle five years earlier leading to his arrest the following day.
He made indications on how he disposed the skins in both incidents, which had already been recovered by Constable Kondo of ZRP Hwange. Of the five head of cattle belonging to his mother that went missing only one skin was recovered, which was used as evidence against Chasemore during trial.