ANGRY patrons at a shebeen in Bulawayo’s Makokoba high-density suburb, recently stoned a police vehicle, as they repelled a raid by police officers at their illegal drinking spot.
BY SILAS NKALA
On Tuesday last week, one of the suspects, Welshman Ncube (32) appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Manasa Musiiwa charged with malicious damage to property, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.
It was the State’s case that the complainant in the matter, a police officer, Denis Pfumbirai, of Ross Camp, was on November 26, 2016 driving a newly-acquired police vehicle along 9th Street in Makokoba raiding shebeens in the company of other police officers.
When they arrived at one of the houses, shebeen patrons allegedly turned rowdy and stoned the police vehicle, leading to Ncube’s arrest.
In his defence, Ncube said he was just grabbed by a police officer while standing a distance away from the house after he arrived home and found the police in a brawl with some occupants. He said the police officers just arrested and threw him into their vehicle.
In his ruling, the magistrate said considering the circumstances, as established during the trial, it was clear that it could not have been easy for anyone to identify who pelted the police car with the stones due to the large number of people involved.
