THE four suspects who were being accused of robbing a private security company of over $125 000 were yesterday acquitted by Mutare regional magistrate Alex Shumba for lack of evidence.
OBEY MANAYITI STAFF REPORTER
The four, Nkosiyabo Moyo (42), Caesar Garapo (40) from Harare and Alex Musendo (35) of Hauna and Tonderai Teko (30) of Mutasa, were arrested last year after they were linked to the Fawcett cash-in-transit robbery case.
In his ruling, Shumba conceded that indeed the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against the quartet.
The State had alleged that the quartet in the company of five others who are still at large, waylaid a Fawcett Security company’s cash-in-transit vehicle along Hauna Road in Manicaland province on November 30 last year and and got away with $125 634 which was being transported to Eastern Highlands Plantations.
On the day in question, it was alleged that some of the accused persons approached one Bernard Mangoma in Rusape who had parked his truck in town under the pretext that they wanted to hire it to ferry fertiliser from St Faith Mission to Rusape.
However, along the way, part of the alleged gang joined in and one of them, Michel Mugwambi, complained of stomach pains and asked to relieve himself in the nearby bushes.
That is when it was reported that the suspects suddenly ordered Mangoma off the driving seat and ordered him and his assistants to disembark before they tied them with barbed wire and made off with their belongings.
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On November 30 at around 6am, the gang allegedly waylaid the Fawcett truck and when the cash-in-transit vehicle was approaching Duri River along Selborne-Hauna Road, the driver of the security company saw a Mitsubishi truck coming his way.
The Mitsubishi truck then encroached into the lane of the Fawcett vehicle and the two vehicles collided just after Duri Bridge.
The other accused persons reportedly arrived at the scene soon after the collision pretending to be police officers who wanted to assist following the road accident as two of them were in police uniform.
However, they assaulted the Fawcett driver on the head using a pistol butt before the suspect wearing a police uniform handcuffed the cash vehicle driver. The Fawcett driver was then thrown onto the back of the vehicle as the suspects disarmed other Fawcett officers and made away with a cash box containing $125 634.
The court, however, ruled that there were a lot of inconsistencies in the evidence adduced during trial.
The quartet was represented by Chris Ndlovu and Farai Matinhure.
