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Cheeky police robber jailed

News
A DARING Harare thief who specialised in robbing police cars was yesterday slapped with a six-year prison sentence.

A DARING Harare thief who specialised in robbing police cars was yesterday slapped with a six-year prison sentence.

Report by Senior Reporter

Harare magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni sent the robber to jail after convicting him on three of the four counts he was facing.

Misheck Madzivadondo (32) will, however, serve an effective four years after two years were conditionally suspended.

On December 11 last year, a police officer, John Dick, parked his service vehicle — a Nissan Sunny registration number ZRP 171F — at his place of residence in Highfield Police New Camp.

Madzivadondo went to the police camp around 4am and proceeded to Dick’s house.

He used an unknown object to open the vehicle and used a screwdriver to start the engine. A week later, he went to Morris Depot driving Dick’s vehicle intending to steal. He was, however, noticed by a police officer who raised alarm, prompting Madzivadondo to take to his heels leaving the car.

On December 31, Madzivadondo went back to Morris Depot and stole a Mitsubishi Canter truck, registration number ZRP 210E, which was being used by the Officer-in-Charge Learnmore Bere at the radio workshops at Morris Depot.

Madzivadondo broke the window, hot-wired the engine and drove away.

The vehicle was later recovered at Mbare Musika with the battery and canopy missing.

On January 12 this year, Madzivadondo proceeded to Highfield Police New Camp at 4am where he stole Kudakwashe Jasi’s service vehicle, a Mazda B1600.

Using the Mazda B1600, Madzivadondo drove to Manyewe business centre in Mamina where he misrepresented himself as an official from the Anti-Corruption Commission, after which he “arrested” a shop assistant he accused of selling fertiliser in a shop which was not a hardware outlet. He then demanded the assistant to pay $100 before he could be released. He was, however, given $40.

Madzivadondo was arrested the same day while re–fuelling the vehicle.