BY SILAS NKALA
THREE armed robbers recently jailed to 35 years for robbing buses were last week back in court, charged with another two counts of robbery.
Jobson Shonhe (39) of Gokwe, Samuel Moyo (29) of Chipinge and Fraddy Ginotry Chibwana (28) of Mkoba, Gweru, denied the charges of armed robbery when they appeared before Beitbridge regional magistrate Crispen Mberewere.
They were remanded in custody to tomorrow for trial.
The three were recently sentenced to a combined 51 years in jail for robbing a Smart Bus Service and Regstep Bus Service using the same modus operandi.
Prosecutor Munyonga Kuvarega told the court that on January 29 this year, along the Masvingo-Beitbridge Road and at around 3pm, the three boarded a Blue Circle bus from Kadoma, purporting to be passengers travelling to Beitbridge.
When the bus reached the 156-kilometre peg near Rutenga Business Centre in Mwenezi, Shonhe approached the driver and said he wanted to disembark.
The driver told him that he could not stop in the bush and would stop at a build-up area, but Shonhe produced a firearm and ordered the driver to stop. The driver complied.
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Shonhe allegedly fired two shots into the air, hitting the roof of the bus and ordered passengers to lie down.
It is the State case that Moyo and Chibwana went to the front of the bus where Chibwana took a satchel from one of the passengers and ordered all the other passengers to surrender their cash and cellphones.
The trio took passengers’ cash and phones before they disembarked from the bus.
The passengers and the bus crew reported the matter to police in Mwenezi.
The three were arrested by Beitbridge police officers who recovered some of the stolen property, with some of it being identified by the owners.
In another robbery count, the three, on the same day, boarded a cross-border Kabor Bus from Roadport, Harare, purporting to be passengers proceeding to Zambia.
