adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A HUSBAND-AND-WIFE team who robbed a Victoria Falls resident of her handbag with $500 in cash and a mobile phone are languishing in jail after failing to raise nearly $300 in fines imposed by a court.
David Ernie Kruger, 32, and his wife Mitchell Van Rooyn, 34, were said in court to jointly run Manzini Fishing Lodge at Mlibizi, Binga, but they have failed to raise a $100 fine and a further $183 which they were ordered to pay back to victim, Nicola Jayne Finaughty.
The couple is still held at Victoria Falls Prison.
Rooyn and Kruger were out of money while holidaying in the resort town when they turned to crime to finance their drinking binges and raise their return bus fare.
Finaughty was loading bags into her car parked in the grounds of Ilala Lodge, where she works, when Rooyn grabbed her handbag while she was inside the building retrieving more bags.
Kruger was staying at the lodge with Rooyn, who told a court she lives in Harare.
Magistrate Sharon Rosemani convicted the couple of criminal trespass and theft recently.
Kruger, who claimed that his girlfriend was the one who executed the crime and gave him part of the loot, was fined $100 or 10 weeks in jail.
Rooyn was sentenced to six months in jail which was commuted to 210 hours of community service at Hatcliff Clinic in Harare. A further two months were suspended on condition she pays $183 to Finaughty.
In the handbag, prosecutor Takunda Ndovorwi said, was a mobile phone and $500 cash of which only $317 was recovered after they were arrested later at Imvubu Bar where they were drinking.
The thieving couple have been reported to be French nationals, but this is not captured in court records. Kruger told his court that his mother lives in Canada.
Online Reporter