Trio arrested for ‘stealing’ 90 cellphones from cars

Brenda Zinyuke, Court Reporter

THREE men from Bulawayo have appeared in court for allegedly stealing 90 cellphones and a laptop all worth $250 000 from a motor vehicle that was parked in the Central Business District (CBD).

Raymond Chimonero (25) of Cowdray Park suburb, Kwanele Ndlovu (29) of Makokoba suburb and Valliant Nyoni (27) of Mzilikazi suburb allegedly stole from Mr Vumani Ncube who resides in the city centre.

Mr Ncube is a cellphone dealer.
Chimonero and his accomplices were not asked to plead to theft from a motor vehicle charges when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Nomasiko Ndlovu.

The magistrate remanded them in custody to Monday. The brands of the stolen phones include Samsung, Huawei, Nokia, and Apple among others as well as an HP laptop.
Prosecuting, Mr Mufaro Mageza said on October 19 this year at around 7PM, Mr Ncube parked and locked his Mazda Axella at the corner of Fife Street and 15th Avenue.
Chimonero and his accomplices allegedly connived to steal from his car while he was away.

“The accused persons acting in common purpose took advantage of the complainant’s absence and smashed the right rear passenger window of the complainant’s car to get access to the property that was in the car,” said the prosecutor.

The trio also stole a maroon bag before leaving unnoticed.
When Mr Ncube returned to his car, he noticed that some of his belongings were missing and reported the matter to the police.

Investigations led to the recovery of a Hisense cellphone.
Chimonero allegedly implicated Ndlovu and Nyoni leading to the recovery of six other cellphones and the suspects’ arrest.

The recovered cellphones are worth $18 500.

Ndlovu and Nyoni were in September this year convicted of stealing more than US$2 300 and other valuables from two motor vehicles in the CBD.

They were each ordered to perform 315 hours of community service at Barbourfields Police Station. — @zinyuke98