Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Two serial armed robbers who offered mushikashika lifts or hired taxis and then robbed the drivers have been jailed, with one receiving a 34-year effective sentence and the other 30 years.
Mufaro Mupandira (29) was handed a 34-year prison term, while his accomplice Brandon Chitiyo (21) will serve 30 years after being convicted on eight counts of robbery by Harare regional magistrate Mr Noel Mpeiwa.
Their robberies, which involved threats of knives and ropes, left several victims traumatised and injured.
One of their victims, Mavis Sango of Mabvuku, was waiting for transport at the Mabvuku Turn Off bus stop along Mutare Road around 10 am on December 23, last year when the pair offered her a lift in a stolen ivory Honda Fit.
Carrying groceries worth US$45, US$150 cash, and a mobile phone, she boarded the car with other passengers.
As the vehicle neared a police roadblock close to the 71-kilometre peg, the driver suddenly pulled off the road, locked the doors, and together with his accomplice brandished a knife and rope.
They threatened to kill her, seized her belongings, tied a rope around her neck, and beat her up, injuring her eye.
Their plan was disrupted when another vehicle appeared, forcing them to flee before dumping her in a secluded area.
She later reported the ordeal to police at ZRP Marondera. Days later, on December 29, 2024, the gang struck again, this time targeting Simbarashe Sarireni, a taxi driver operating a silver Mazda Familia from Boka Bus Terminus. Pretending to be genuine clients, Chitiyo sat in the front passenger seat while Mupandira and a third accomplice, still at large, took the back seat.
When they reached the supposed destination in Gombiro, one of the robbers pretended to make a phone call before returning to launch a vicious attack.
They tied a rope around Sarireni’s neck, threatened him with a knife, bound his legs and hands, blindfolded him, and shoved him into the car boot.
