By Bright Zhou
A man from Masvingo left the court in stitches after he told the Magistrate that he stole a cellphone to download and watch pornography when he appeared before Magistrate Linnet Mudzingo on charges of theft and unlawful entry on May 2, 2024.
Mudzingo remanded the accused in custody for continuation of trial on May 6, 2024.
The state led by Tichaona Chakavarika told the court that on April 21, 2024, the accused, Simbarashe Muchekwa (20) went to Anna Muzivi, who is the complainant’s homestead at around 1500hours, knowing the complainant was at church and no one was around.
He allegedly used an iron bar to break the door and gained entrance. He then proceeded to the dining room where he took a 32-inch plasma television, laptop, and a Tecno mobile phone.
At around 0400 hours Muzivi returned home and saw her front door wide open. She then saw Muchekwa’s footprints in the yard and went inside only to discover that her television, laptop, and cellphone had disappeared.
Her neighbors told her that they saw someone whom they didn’t know entering her house and Muzivi called the police who traced the footprints which led them to the accused’s place.
The police searched his house and found the stolen television and mobile phone and he told them that he had already sold the laptop which they later recovered.
Asked by the magistrate during the trial why he had stolen the property he told the court that he stole the television for his family to watch movies, especially his kid who liked cartoons.
He said he sold the laptop to get money for rentals, food, and clothes for the family and he kept the cell phone to download and watch pornography at night as well as calling his family and friends.
