A Mutare magistrate is expected to hand down judgment in the case of a policeman who is facing charges of stealing about $700 000 worth of minerals from the police exhibit room.
Both the State and defence counsels made their submissions on Tuesday in the matter of Sergeant Elphas Dube (28), who is accused of stealing 196,4 grams of gold and 5 174 pieces of diamond.
Magistrate Noah Gwatidzo is expected to pass judgment next Thursday.
Dube was the exhibit officer in charge of minerals at Mutare Central Police Station.
Charges against Dube are that between February 10 and April 18 this year at the station’s minerals unit offices, he took the gold and diamond pieces amounting to 13 383,15 carats.
As the exhibit officer, Dube was the custodian of the keys to the exhibit room and the State considers him the prime suspect in the theft.
In its submission, the State, led by Truman Joma, said Dube had a case to answer and urged the court to convict him on the charge of theft while on the other hand the defence counsel argued that it would be illogical for the accused to steal from himself since he was the custodian of the minerals.
The defence added that the State had failed to prove a case against Dube because there were many loopholes in the security system at the exhibit room and that a lot of persons could have gained entry to the room where the minerals were kept.
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The defence also argued that the investigations were not thorough hence it was not proper to conclude that Dube was responsible for the missing minerals.
