Chronicle Editor
Richard Muponde, Plumtree Correspondent
A BULAWAYO vagrant who lives at Ngozi Mine dumpsite in Richmond has been fined $100 for giving false information to the court in order to be granted bail.
Mphelekezeli Phiri (37) who is facing charges of stealing electrical cables in Figtree, will serve 30 days in prison if he fails to raise the fine.
Phiri was on Wednesday convicted on his own plea of guilty to deliberately supplying false information to a police officer by Plumtree resident magistrate, Mr Taurai Manwere.
He admitted to the court that he lied to detective Assistant Inspector Ladislous Tinacho of Minerals and Border Control Unit that he was employed at Ngozi Mine, giving the impression that it was a gold mine in Bulawayo.
“I told him that I was employed at Ngozi Mine in Bulawayo. However the place is where I reside and it’s a squatter camp at the dumpsite,” said Phiri.
Prosecutor, Mrs Rose Sibanda told the court that on December 14 at 8AM, Phiri was arrested in Figtree for stealing Zesa cables.
He told the detectives that he was employed at Ngozi Mine in Bulawayo and the following day, he was brought to Plumtree Magistrates’ Courts facing the charges.
However, two days later he was released on bail on the basis that he was employed at Ngozi Mine.
On December 20, detective constable Eliam Eliam and his team went to Ngozi Mine for indications and search of Phiri’s accomplice who is at large.
They discovered that Ngozi Mine was a dump site and Phiri lived in a shack at the squatter camp, leading to his arrest on the new charges. — @richardmuponde
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