Zanu-PF youths jailed for robbing vendor

Tatenda Katsande (30) and Deliza Virukayi (26) approached Dhokotera Musafare and asked for his vending licence.
They ordered him to follow them to their Zanu-PF, Highlands district offices, which they claimed was their “base” before taking away his goods.
Magistrate Ms Audrey Tarugarira convicted the pair of robbery after a fully contested trial.
She sentenced them to two years each behind bars before suspending 10 months for five years on condition they do not commit a similar offence within that period.
Each one of them will now serve an effective 14 months in prison for the crime.
In their defence Katsande said: “We only made enquiries of the items he was selling and to check if he had a licence.
“We asked him to follow us to our offices so that we could get his personal information.”
However, in passing the sentence, Ms Tarugarira said the two had committed a serious offence.
She said they had no right to question Musafare about his licence since they were not municipal or police officers.
Prosecutor Ms Rosewitter Madembo said on November 4, Musafare was selling his goods at Lewisam Shopping Centre when Katsande and Virukayi approached him.
They ordered him to follow them to their base but Musafare refused.
They dragged him and took his bag, which had lotions, cellphone chargers and hair removers valued at US$80.
When they arrived at their base, they punched and kicked him all over his body.
He ran away with the two in pursuit but outpaced them.
He made a police report leading to the arrest of the two.