Lawrence Mandava
MASVINGO – Tapiwa Manyuchi (23) was recently slapped with a 10 year jail sentence by Masvingo magistrate Dambudzo Malunga for stealing Nelson Chaurura’s car and cell phone.
This was after he was found guilty of contravening the law as defined in Section 113 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for stealing the car, a Toyota Noah Liteace (reg number ADH 0109 and the smartphone, a Nokia Android S8 Mini Kagoo.
Appearing for the State, Shamiso Masokovere told the court that on July 06, 2017 around 19: 00 hrs, Chaurura left his car parked behind his shop at Stand Number 8 Mushagashe business centre and forgot the keys on the shelf of the shop counter.
The complainant’s brother-in-law then took the car keys from the shop and went to the vehicle where he connected his phone on car charger and left the car unlocked and the key on the ignition.
Manyuchi, who was close by, noticed that the car was unsecured and gained entry using the passenger’s door and drove off towards Masvingo town.
Chaurura, with the company of his brother-in-law, got into another car and followed Manyuchi whom they found at Gokomere Mission where he was picking up passengers.
Manyuchi, however, managed to escape and drove off at a fast speed towards Masvingo town and they failed to catch up with him.
The theft victim reported the matter to Masvingo police and a docket was opened but the stolen car was later found parked at Sisk business centre its third registration number, certificate of insurance and licencing disk removed.
Police detectives later arrested the suspect at a house in Josiah Gondo Street in Mucheke A and the missing car documents were recovered in the suspect’s trousers.local
