TWO armed robbers have each been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
REPORT BY SENIOR REPORTER
Godwin Mhiripiri (41) and Ideen Moyo will, however, serve six years after Harare regional magistrate Noel Mupeiwa who sentenced them on Monday, suspended part of the sentence.
The magistrate suspended three years each for five years on condition the accused will not commit a similar offence.
Another three years were suspended on condition that the two paid back the complainant $8 238 by November 28.
In passing sentence, magistrate Mupeiwa said: “This is quite a serious offence which must be discouraged by this court.
“A sentence of a fine will not be suitable and community service will not be a deterrent.”
The court heard that on March 17, 2012, at about 6pm, the complainant, Paul Vickers Hodgson, left his house in the company of his wife Lee Margaret Hodgson and his children for dinner at a restaurant in Harare.
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All the doors and windows to the house were closed and locked.
The accused teamed up and proceeded to the house where they forced open the small pedestrian gate and entered the yard.
They forced open the main door with an unknown object and entered the house.
They went to the main bedroom which they ransacked and stole a 9-carat diamond ring and another sapphire ring, one string of pearls, a Samsung digital camera, a Sony video camera, a digital camera with telescopic lens, a Nikon digital camera, among other valuables.
They proceeded to the spare bedroom where they stole a steel cabinet containing $1 000, a shot gun and two Diana 26 rifles with two telescopic lights, a schoolbag and two Nokia phones, among other items.
The accused disappeared from the scene with their loot.
The complainant and his family discovered the theft upon their return and made a police report.
On August 28, 2012, the accused were arrested after police responded to a tip-off.
