adminThandeka Moyo Court Reporter
THE trial of two MDC-T members who allegedly seized a car and stole from a fellow party member finally kicked off in court yesterday. There was confusion after it emerged that one of the witnesses had provided three conflicting statements about what transpired.
Witness Dube who is the party’s vice-president Thokozani Khupe’s driver, 37, and Kunashe Muchemwa, 32, and five other accomplices who are still at large, reportedly pounced on Lameck Ndlovu and Zaccaria Nkomo on May 25 and dragged them out of their vehicle.
They allegedly assaulted the pair, robbed them of a cellphone and $300 before driving off in the car.
Taking the witness stand, Ndlovu told the court that the men took a vehicle that belonged to his former boss Sengezo Tshabangu who was the then MDC-T Matabeleland North provincial chairperson.
The vehicle and stolen property had a total value of $30, 350.
The duo appeared before regional magistrate Mark Dzira and pleaded not guilty.
However, Dube’s lawyer Tanaka Muganyi disputed Ndlovu’s evidence saying he had so far given three different versions of what is alleged to have happened on the day when he lost the car.
“You honour this witness once took this matter to the Civil Court and wrote a statement which is different from the evidence in chief he just gave us.
“The two statements are also different from a third statement he gave to police. All his three statements are for the same incident but there’s no consistency.
We can’t believe that he’s telling the truth,” said Muganyi.
The state led by Tinashe Dzipe objected and requested the defence to render the affidavit that Muganyi was referring to and give the state 72 hours to go through the documents.
Magistrate Dzira moved the matter to November 10 and ordered the defence lawyers to submit the affidavit to the state.
Dzipe alleges that on May 25 this year at around 1PM at Corner 1st Avenue and JMN Nkomo Street, Ndlovu was in the company of Nkomo and he was driving an Isuzu pickup truck belonging to Tshabangu. They were waiting to collect some money.
After getting the money but before they could leave, two vehicles approached and blocked theirs. Dube and Muchemwa, accompanied by five other accomplices who are still at large, disembarked from the two vehicles and pulled Ndlovu and Nkomo out of the car.
They started assaulting them with fists and booted feet all over their bodies.
In the process, Dube and Muchemwa searched Ndlovu and took his Blackberry cellular phone, $300 and the car keys for the pickup truck.
They then got into Ndlovu’s vehicle and drove off while the other five got into the other two vehicles.
Ndlovu was taken to United Bulawayo Hospitals for treatment.
Online Reporter