Serial Robbers Nabbed

Caroline Magenga Midlands Reporter
TWO suspected notorious armed robbers who allegedly targeted fuel service stations, schools and post offices in various parts of the country have been arraigned before the courts to answer 19 charges of unlawful entry and theft. The pair, Kudzai Chiza, 30, of Globe and Phoenix Mine in Kwekwe and Milton Gomana, 31, Nkulumane 5 in Bulawayo allegedly hit various schools, service stations and post offices in Silobela, Kadoma, Kwekwe, Chinhoyi, Makuti, Sanyati, Gokwe, Shangani, Norton, Kariba and Gwanda.

Chiza and Gomana allegedly stole cash amounting to $25,132 and R5,475.
They appeared before Regional Magistrate, Morgan Nemadire yesterday to answer 10 counts of unlawful entry and nine counts of theft.
Chiza and Gomana both are pleading not guilty to the charges.

Nemadire remanded the two in custody for continuation of trial this Friday.
State witnesses who submitted their evidence yesterday said the two would use explosives to blow up vaults and safes.

A headmaster of Nyamatani Primary School in Sanyati who gave evidence in court said: “When they came with the police for indications they told us that one of them would open the doors with a pick while the other would keep watch with a getaway car on the ready. They also demonstrated how they went into the headmaster’s office, planted explosives by the safe and after blowing it to smithereens they would pocket the cash and disappear. We actually noticed the smithereens at the scene.”

The State’s case is that sometime in October 2013, the two accused first broke into a service station in Kadoma where they stole some cash.
They went on to rob post offices, filling stations and schools around the country, stealing cash and other valuables that included cell phones.
It is also alleged that the two would separate and travel to Mozambique and Botswana to squander the money. They would then link up after a few weeks and stage other robbery operations.

The long arm of the law eventually caught up with the two while in Gweru after the police received a tip-off from members of the public leading to Chiza and Gomana’s arrest. Chiza and Gomana denied the charges.

They claim they were tortured and threatened at gunpoint by the police as they forced them to accept responsibility for the robberies they knew nothing about.