Police’s hot wanted list

CRIME statistics can be misleading sometimes when we look at the number of cases committed against the number of persons committing them. When we refer to a particular place as having recorded so many cases over some time, it would appear as if we have many criminals in our various communities.

An increase in the cases might go on to suggest that more people are turning to criminal activity for a living or that those already in the activity are engaged in a criminal-recruiting exercise.

This unfortunately could be far from the truth. The fact that a particular place is having so many incidents of crime does not always follow that there are many criminals in that particular area.

Very often criminals who remain unaccounted for continue committing crimes and intensify their activities as long as they are hanging out there.

It is for this reason that we have decided to regularly appraise the public on those people that are on the police’s hot wanted list from time to time. Our focus for this week is thus on Wanted Persons.

A wanted person is that person who has committed a crime and is wanted by the police or court for the purpose of enabling the law to take its course. Wanted Persons come about from various dimensions in this regard. You can think of a person whom you have offered overnight accommodation at your home.

You wake up the following morning, your Hifi is gone and he is nowhere to be seen. Someone tells he saw the same person with the property at a bus stop early that morning.

You give all the names and other details concerning the person to the police who try to look for him from possible known places, but the person is not found even in the place he normally resides or frequents.

The police after exhausting all possible clues have no choice but to have him listed as a Wanted Person who has to be constantly checked by the respective and other stations until he is arrested. Sometimes a person attends court as an accused or witness. He is told at the end of the particular court session to attend another court session but decides to abscond for reasons best known to themselves.

A warrant of arrest is issued and the police are tasked with the duty of looking for this person until he is arrested. This is yet another example of how people become wanted persons. It is, however, wanted persons who are on the run for having committed serious or a spate of offences that the police are always concerned about. Wanted Persons on the run leave a trail of destruction behind them and intensify criminal activity with time. Whilst in their hiding they become a danger to the police and the public in their bid to avoid arrest.

One person can contribute to a considerable number of the total cases that occur in our community which is the reason we sometime see the arrest of a single person clearing so many cases committed over a period of time.
Let us now look at some of the Wanted Persons who police have been looking for from as far back as the year 2013.

Name: Nelson Mahupete
N.R. Unknown
Sex: Male
Age: Approx. 32
Residentail Address: Nelmar Holdings, Murehwa Business Centre.
Station Where Wanted: Rusape Central
Offence: Fraud
Circumstances: The accused person went around telling residents within and around Rusape purporting to be selling agricultural inputs requesting them to make payments. He collected cash amounting to US$10 190 but did not deliver the promised inputs and went into hiding.
***
Name: Elizabeth Nyathi
N.R. Unknown
Sex: Female
Age: Approx. 48
Residential Address: Number 5 Canns Street, Tropez Apartment, Harare
Station Where Wanted: Rusape Central
Offence: Fraud
Circumstances: The accused went around Rusape collecting garlic worth $9 000 from farmers and traders. She promised to make payments after her deliveries in Harare. The woman never returned but is believed to be in Harare.
***
Name: Felix
N.R. Unknown
Sex: Male
Age: Approx. 36
Residential Address: Village 56, Dombo, Chief Mutasa, Nyanga
Name: John Zinyama
N.R. Nil
Age: Approx. 36
Residential Address: Village 56 Dombo, Chief Mutasa, Nyanga
Or: 25 Dougal Road, The Grange, Highlands, Harare
Station Where Wanted: ZRP Nyanga Contact Number 0298-211 or 212
Offence: Murder
Circumstances: Sometime in August 2014, the two teamed up and went to Village 2, Dombo area, looking for Takesure Masvinge, a woman whom they accused of bewitching the wife of John Zinyama, who is accused 2. They met Takesure at her neighbour’s homestead and assaulted her with logs. Takesure died a few minutes after the assault and the two accused persons who fled soon after the assault are still at large.
***
Name: Denis Manyora
N.R Unknown
Age: Approx. 44
Residential Address: Number 903, Magamba, Rusape
Bus. Address: Magamba and Associates, Rusape.
Station Where Wanted: Rusape Central
Offence: Fraud
Circumstances: The accused sold non-existing stands to residents in Rusape sometime during the month of March 2014. He disappeared after the discovery of the offence and is still at large.
Anyone with information can get in touch with ZRP Rusape Central on number 025-2359 or 025-2874 or the address given for Nyanga.