Two men accused of armed robbery, who were on the police wanted list, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday after they were apprehended by the public while in the act.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
The accused, David Farai Hausi (43) and Jabulani Nyoni (35), of Epworth, were not asked to plead when they appeared before magistrate Josephine Sande, who remanded them in custody to September 12.
Sande advised Hausi and Nyoni to approach the High Court for bail application.
It is the State’s case that on Monday, the suspects, who were wearing dust coats written ZETDC, went to a house in Hatfield, where they posed as Zesa Holdings workers, who had come to carry out repairs.
The accused were taken to the cottage in the backyard, where they met a domestic worker, who took them into the main house to show them where the prepaid meter was fitted.
On entering the house, one of the accused allegedly produced a small axe from a satchel and manhandled the domestic worker.
The complainant screamed for help, attracting the attention of his mother, who was in another room.
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It is alleged the trio were subdued by the two, who then demanded money and valuables. The two allegedly stole three cellphones, a laptop and $6 089 cash before escaping.
The State alleges neighbours and passers-by, who heard the loud cries from the complainants, rushed to investigate and met Hausi and Nyoni fleeing from the scene, prompting them to give chase.
A citizen’s arrest was effected and the suspects were handed over to the police. Tatenda Murindagomo appeared for the State.
Meanwhile, a Harare magistrate on Tuesday jailed a woman, who forced her sister’s two-year-old daughter to hold a hot sweet potato she had just forked out of a boiling pot.
Magistrate Nomsa Sabarauta sentenced Vimbai Muudzwa (20) of Kuwadzana Phase 3, Harare, to 24 months’ imprisonment for contravening section 7(1) of the Children’s Act for ill-treating a minor.
She will serve an 18-month effective jail term after six months were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
Muudzwa had told court that her own child did not receive second degree burns from the potatoes, but later confessed she was punishing the minor for eating food from a neighbour’s house and soiling blankets.
The court heard that between July 14 and August 2, Muudzwa assaulted the minor with an unknown object on her body, before taking a hot sweet potato out of a boiling pot
Muudzwa then placed the hot potato in her niece’s right hand, pressing it tightly on her. The child cried in pain, but Muudzwa continued pressing the sweet potato and she sustained serious burns.
An informant alerted the police of the abuse after noticing the minor’s untreated burns, leading to Muudzwa’s arrest.
Francisca Mukumbiri appeared for the State.
