Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – A 34-year-old teacher who had been on the run for the past two years after seizing someone’s laptop for failing to pay a US$20 debt, was last week convicted of unauthorised borrowing by Magistrate Honest Musiiwa.
Life Takavada of Chikandiwa village under Chief Negari, whom others said taught at Results Oriented College in Harare, was convicted on his own plea of guilty and sentenced to twenty days behind bars or alternatively pay US$60 fine.
The State’s case, as presented led by prosecutor Patience Mutsikwi, was that on September 4, 2015 at around 10:00 hrs, Takavada took the Samsung laptop with a net value of US$400 from Alfred Beta who had failed to settle the debt.
After taking the laptop, Takavada disappeared and went on to ignore repeated phone calls by police at Rutenga instructing him to bring back the laptop.
Beta later told TellZim News that with the help of social media, he managed to locate Takavada who had been reluctant to divulge his whereabouts though he, on several occasions, would entertain some phone calls.
“I was sure that Takavada was in Harare but I was not certain about his exact location. So I sent messages to different WhatsApp groups pleading for anybody with knowledge of his whereabouts to assist me.
“I eventually received a tip off so I visited his workplace in the company of three police officers and we ambushed him during break time. He was really taken by surprise because when he saw me, he tried to flee and resist arrest but the police officers overpowered him,” said Beta.local
