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Auxilia Katongomara Court Reporter
A Bulawayo lawyer has alleged that police could have unlawfully killed serial armed robber, Shepard Mhizha, out of frustration emanating from his string of armed robberies just to get rid of him.Josphat Tshuma, who is representing the Mhizha family in an ongoing inquest to establish the actual cause of his death, said this in his submissions.
High Court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha ordered the inquest into the death of Mhizha.
He was husband to Tafadzwa Mapako, who later married Alick Macheso. She and Macheso divorced recently.
Detectives claimed they shot and killed jail escapee Mhizha, alias Major Sanyati, on July 27, 2011, near Khami Dam during crime scene indications.
They said they had removed his leg irons and handcuffs when they went to the place where Mhizha said he had hidden arms.
In his submissions Tshuma said evidence given by two detectives in whose custody Mhizha died was hard to believe.
“The evidence of the police officers regarding the circumstances under which they shot and killed the deceased are totally unconvincing,” said Tshuma.
“It is quite probable that frustrated with his conduct and noticing that the now deceased was seriously injured, the police may have shot him.”
Giving evidence, the two detectives said they shot at Mhizha after he unearthed a pistol and fired shots at them, prompting them to lie on the ground and open fire on him.
Tshuma said evidence by the two detectives cannot be trusted as they were avoiding incriminating themselves.
“It is highly improbable, if not ridiculous for the police officer who had leg ironed the deceased and handcuffed him when they went for identification of firearms to uncuff him when they arrived. There is no reasonable explanation at all which was advanced by the police why they had to uncuff him, when he had only to point to a spot where he had hidden firearms,” said Tshuma.
From evidence given by a doctor who conducted a post mortem on the notorious criminal, it emerged that he was badly bruised on the back and shoulder, and had bullet wounds on his back and leg.
Tshuma said claims by the police that they trusted Mhizha enough to uncuff him did not hold water as they knew how dangerous he was.
In his closing submissions Tshuma said: “A proper investigation might reveal that a crime was committed. It is therefore submitted that this honourable court must make a finding that the conduct of the police may have been unlawful and there may have been the cause of the death of the now deceased Shepard Mhizha”.
Detectives investigating a spate of armed robberies in Harare and Bulawayo between 2009 and 2011 arrested Mhizha on July 24, 2011, following a shoot-out in Luveve suburb.
He was shot in the leg during the encounter, and he was found with a CZ pistol with five rounds of ammunition.
According to the state, three days later with the bullet still in his leg, Mhizha led detectives to a bushy area along Khami Road near Khami Dam to recover another pistol.
The weapon was recovered, but the state says he suddenly cocked it, prompting the detectives to fire at him.
He was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals where he died on admission.
Mhizha had been implicated in 22 armed robberies in Bulawayo and was also wanted in Harare for escaping from custody using forged papers. In 2005, he was jailed for 20 years together with two accomplices, who died in prison, for a string of armed robberies in Harare.
He served part of the sentence at Chikurubi Maximum Prison but got out of jail after a bogus Harare lawyer, George Simbi, secured his release as well as that of eight other suspected armed robbers and carjackers from prison in 2009 using fake High Court release orders.
Once out, Mhizha allegedly went on to commit other armed robberies in Bulawayo’s affluent suburbs, getting away with mostly cash and jewellery.
Coroner, Bulawayo magistrate Crispen James Mberewere is expected to make a ruling on Friday.
Online Reporter