Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
Court Reporter
TWO armed robbers, were arrested after being tracked via a phone that they had stolen.
Pritchard Muneya and Arnold Matsika appeared before Harare regional magistrate Donald Ndirowei on Wednesday, charged with armed robbery.
The two were remanded in custody to July 28 and were advised to apply for bail at the High Court.
The complainant is Tinashe Blessed Tepatepa.
The court heard that on April 30, Tepatepa parked his car with a tracking system at house number 986 Makomo Extension, Epworth, and fell asleep in the car.
The duo and their accomplice broke into Tepatepa’s car and assaulted him with an iron bar.
While inside the car, the trio introduced themselves as robbers and demanded Tepatepa to hand over the car keys. They then pushed him to the front passenger’s seat. The robbers searched him and took his wallet, which had US$127, and ZAR800, and his blue Samsung M14 cellphone.
One of the robbers sat behind the steering wheel and drove the car to Zinyengere Cemetery where they blind folded Tepatepa with a hat, then tied his hands and legs with a mutton cloth.
One of the robbers pushed Tepatepa out of the car and urinated on his face before they drove away.
Tepatepa managed to untie himself and sought assistance from mourners who were at a funeral close to where he had been dumped.
He managed to contact his father, who switched off the car using the tracking device while the robbers were driving along Seke Road near ZRP St Mary’s and they dumped the car.
On June 18, detectives from the Vehicle Theft Squad recovered the stolen cellphone from Prosper Musakaruka, who told them that he had bought it from Muneya, who upon arrest, implicated Matsika.
