Court Correspondent
A bar patron allegedly stole a vehicle from a drunken friend who had asked him to chauffeur him home after a drinking spree.
Three days later George Chatambudza (29) smashed the car, and when the police investigated they found the car was listed as stolen.
Yesterday Chatambudza appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje charged with theft of a motor vehicle and was remanded in custody pending his bail application on July 10.
Prosecuting, Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti alleged that Jonathan Shaw (52) on Friday last week at around 2am was drinking at De Castilla Night Club at Greencroft Shopping Centre in Harare with Chatambudza.
Realising he was drunk Mr Shaw asked Chatambudza whom he knew as a patron at the same bar to drive him home. He agreed and they drove to Mr Shaw’s house where the drunk car owner went to bed. He woke up at around 11am and discovered that his motor vehicle was not at its usual parking place. In the motor vehicle was a Samsung cellphone and US$1 500 cash.
So Mr Shaw filed a report at ZRP Avondale. Chatambudza was subsequently arrested by detectives from Harare Vehicle Theft Squad and they recovered the stolen vehicle.



