By Bright Zhou
A 51-year-old man who resides in Chatsworth, Masvingo was arrested after swapping a dead man’s tipper truck left in his custody with a mini-bus and has appeared before Masvingo Regional Magistrate Bishard Chineka on theft charges on May 29, 2024.
Chineka remanded the accused Absalom Masvinge, in custody for continuation of trial on June 3, 2024.
The state heard that in mid-2021 Masvinge was left in custody of a red tipper truck which had a breakdown by the now deceased Shepherd Chara and was asked to keep it safe until he came back to repair and collect it.
Three years passed and Shepherd did not collect his truck from Masvinge’s homestead as he had unfortunately gotten ill and died before collecting the truck.
Masvinge later swapped the truck for a white Iveco Minibus with Takunda Takawira who resides in Limpopo View, Beitbridge.
Sharon Chara, the deceased’s wife then sent a mechanic to repair the truck at Masvinge’s homestead, only to find out that it was not there.
Sharon called Masvinge who told her he had swapped the truck because her husband owed him US$700.
Chara reported the matter to the police and investigations were carried out leading to the arrest of Masvinge.
In his defense, Masvinge said he did not swap the truck because the owner was dead but because he owed him a storage fee at the time of his death since they had agreed that the now deceased would pay US$15 every day but did not get a single cent for three years.
“The deceased promised to pay me US$15 for safekeeping his truck but he did not do so for three years. Apart from that the deceased owed me US$700 so I swapped his truck to get back my money although I did not know he was dead,” said Masvinge.
