A HARARE man, Brine Mugota, allegedly stormed a Cabs banking hall in Mount Pleasant, Harare, last month armed with a pistol and ordered the security guard to surrender his firearm before hitting him several times on the head, with the gun’s butt fracturing his skull in the process.
CHARLES LAITON
Mugota allegedly proceeded to order all the banking staff to surrender and threatened to kill the manager, while demanding keys to the bank’s safe.
However, Mugota’s actions yielded nothing, as one of the employees quickly locked off the main entrance, prompting him to abandon his demand and he threatened to shoot the four tellers if he was not granted safe passage.
Mugota managed to flee the scene, but later surrendered himself to police the following day after learning the law enforcement agents were hunting for him.
Allegations against Mugota are that on January 12 this year, he went into the Cabs banking hall at around 3:25pm where he loitered inside until he was the only potential client left.
The State alleges he pulled out a 7.62 mm Tokarev pistol, pointed it at the guard and ordered him to surrender his firearm, but the sentry resisted and the two wrestled for possession of the firearm.
Mugota overcame the guard, held the weapon by the muzzle and hit him six times on the head with the butt and the guard lost consciousness after sustaining a fractured skull.
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Determined to accomplish his mission, Mugota stormed into the bank vault’s, pointed his pistol at the manager and demanded the safe’s keys, but was locked in by one of the employees.
He then threatened to shoot the four tellers if he was not granted for safe passage and the bank manager opened the main exit and Mugota fled the scene, only to surrender himself to police the following day.
Last week he appeared at the High Court seeking bail on charges of attempted robbery, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm and told the court “he was an innocent victim of an overzealous security guard, who on noticing the firearm dangling in his unfastened waist holster violently dispossessed him of the weapon”.
He also said the weapon belonged to his late father and he simply took possession of it in January this year intending to take it to Central Firearms Registry for verification and licensing.
Mugota said he, however, visited the banking hall to make a cash deposit and was involved in the melee before he could fulfil his intentions, but his version was dismissed by Justice Samuel Kudya, who denied him bail.
