A Chitungwiza man, Ashmore Benedict Gurupira, who owns Jongweguru Car Park, has been jailed for eight years after being convicted of stealing two motor vehicles from his car park.
Regional magistrate Memory Chigwaza castigated Gurupira’s conduct of turning into a thief instead of protecting his clients’ cars.
“Accused’s moral blameworthiness is very high. He stole two motor vehicles in a single night. He was supposed to guard the vehicles from thieves, but he turned out to be the thief,” the magistrate said.
“He also took advantage of the fact that the car owners had confided in him of the defects on the vehicles and he easily got access to the vehicles. This was a pre-planned offence.”
However, Gurupira will serve an effective four-year jail term after the magistrate suspended three years from the total sentence on condition of good behaviour.
Another year was suspended on condition he pays Manasa Jaji $640 compensation for damages after the stolen vehicle rammed into Jaji’s house in Waterfalls.
According to prosecutor Norman Tsarwe, the incidents occurred on the night of February 12 this year.
The court heard that at around 6pm, Gurupira, who was in the company of two unidentified men, came to the car park where Westway Bhasvi and Nonokai Chitiku had parked a Toyota Hiace and a Mazda B1600 respectively.
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He used the ignition keys that had stuck and were left in the Hiace and a duplicate key for the Mazda to start the engine and drove the vehicles off.
However, the Hiace later crashed into Jaji’s house in Waterfalls and Gurupira abandoned it there.
Gurupira’s luck ran out when he was caught in Zengeza while driving the stolen Mazda B1600 the following day.
