FOUR suspects who were arrested during a police raid at their colleague Boris Mushonga’s funeral in Mbare on Monday, yesterday appeared before Harare provincial magistrate Elijah Makomo charged with robbery.
REPORT BY CHARLES LAITON
The four suspects — Rodney Akende (37), Rodwell Keith Undi (33), Bernard Kaitano (31) and Mugove Chikukwa (age not given) — all residents of Mbare — are being linked to a robbery and hijacking incident which happened in the capital on July 26 this year.
It is believed the quartet hijacked Solomon Munjaranji on July 26 this year after they had offered him a lift purporting to be driving to Hatcliffe.
Prosecutor Tungamirai Chakurira told the court that on the day in question, Munjaranji waved down an unmarked black Toyota Raum car along Second Street Extension.
The suspects allegedly pulled over and picked him up.
They initially drove along Second Street Extension and later turned left into Josiah Tongogara Avenue.
At that juncture, the suspects allegedly grabbed Munjaranji by the neck and robbed him of his Sony Ericsson cellphone, a digital camera, shoes and $180 in cash before dumping him between Second and Mazoe streets along Josiah Tongogara Avenue.
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On Monday this week, police received a tip-off that the four were attending Mushonga’s funeral in Mbare and they raided the residence, leading to the suspects’ arrest.
The court remanded them in custody to November 6, but their bail ruling will be heard today in the same court.
Mushonga was one of the five people who died when the Toyota Raum they were travelling in crashed into an oncoming bus near Zindoga shopping centre in Waterfalls last week while fleeing arrest.
Police fired gunshots at the funeral in a bid to restore order and close the net on the “wanted suspects” at the drama-filled funeral.
Before the shooting, Mushonga’s colleagues snatched the casket from the hearse, placed it on top of their van and sped off with other cars in tow as they bade him farewell.
The drama was, however, cut short after the suspects spotted police detectives among the hordes of mourners and attempted to flee, leaving the casket unattended after which it fell off the moving Toyota Noah and Mushonga’s body tumbled out.
Meanwhile, a 34-year-old Chinese national, Chen Guoliang, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts yesterday charged with unlawful possession of 99kg of ivory worth $28 475.
Chen was intercepted at Harare International Airport on Monday as he was about to board an Ethiopian Airlines plane en-route to Malaysia with his alleged loot which included raw ivory and processed ivory artifacts.
Harare magistrate Donald Ndirowei denied him bail and remanded the matter to November 4 for trial.
Prosecutor Francesca Mukumbiri told the court Chen was arrested after immigration officials scanned his luggage and recovered 17 elephant tusks.
The court heard that the Chinese national did not have a permit or licence authorising him to deal in ivory.
The arrest comes as government has intensified its anti-poaching campaign following a rise in elephant poaching, especially in Hwange National Park where over 100 elephants have reportedly been killed over the past weeks.
