…case exposes him as drug peddler
By Bright Zhou
A Masvingo man is in court being charged with aggravated assault for beating up his two co-tenants after accusing them of stealing his underwear and police who attended the scene discovered that he was selling mbanje.
The accused, Learnmore Chitsavani made his initial appearance before Masvingo Magistrate Elizabeth Hanzie on April 4, 2023 and was remanded out of custody waiting for continuation of trial on April 26, 2024.
The state heard that Chitsavani had misunderstandings with two teenagers who are his co-tenants accusing them of stealing his underwear and a hat which he had hanged on the washing line after which he assaulted them with a log.
The victims’ younger sister rushed to Rujeko Police Station where she reported that his brothers were assaulted by Chitsavani and one Constable Sikumbuso Masukume escorted the girl back home.
Upon arrival at Chitsavani’s place, they only found his wife and the victims who told the police officer that he had disappeared.
The officer told the accused’s wife that he wanted to solve the dispute not arrest him so he should report to the police station upon return.
The court was further told that the police officer went to Jazire Shopping Centre in Rujeko where he met a boy who told him that the person he was looking for was also a drug dealer who was into selling mbanje.
Masukume returned to Chitsavani’s homestead, found him already there and asked to search the house. He then went to the accused’s bedroom where he found a paper bag of mbanje.
He then arrested the suspect whom he took to Rujeko Police Station.
In his defense, Chitsavani told the court that Constable Masukume found marijuana in the kitchen not in the bedroom and he suspected that the two boys he had misunderstandings with had planted the paper bag so that he would get arrested.
“I did not have mbanje. I told the police that what they found was planted to set me up and also the officer did not recover the mbanje in the bedroom but in the kitchen and I suspect the two whom I had an altercation with,” he said.
However, the officer insisted that he found the mbanje in his bedroom after the accused’s wife opened the door for him at his request.
Godknows Magondo prosecuted.
