BY RICHARD MUPONDE
A BIKITA man has been nabbed for stealing six cattle worth ZWL$5 000 from a cattle pen at a homestead in Chipinge and allegedly drove them to his rural home in Bikita about 80km away.
Upenyu Mukuku (47) of Handura village, Chief Mukanganwi in Bikita appeared before Chipinge magistrate, Joshua Nembaware on Thursday facing six counts of stock theft.
He denied the charges and implicated two other villagers Solomon Gwenzi and Learnmore Mashava of being responsible and was remanded to May 21 on $300 bail after his lawyer Langton Mhungu successful applied for bail on his behalf.
Mukuku was ordered not to interfere with witnesses, reside at his given address in Bikita and also report every Friday to Bikita police station until the finalisation of the matter. Prosecutor Gift Bikita told the court that on March 12 the complainant Rhoda Makarimafu of Matikwa village in Chipinge, under Chief Garahwa penned her six cattle around 6pm and went to her homestead for the night.
During the same night Mukuku and two of his accomplice Mashava and Gwenzi reportedly connived to steal the beasts.
They allegedly came to her pen and drove all her beast away towards Save River into Mahachi village in Chipinge and travelled for about 80km to Gudo area of Bikita.
The following morning, the complaint Makarimafu woke up at around 8am and discovered that all her beats had been stolen.
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She followed a spoor which led her to Save River.
A police report was made and on March 29, Gwenzi and Mashava were arrested on another case of stock theft which happened in Chipinge.
When they made indications they led police to Mukuku’s homestead in Bikita where two beasts belonging to Makarimafu were recovered. She was called and positively identified the beast as hers, but the trio started implicating each other leading to Mukuku’s arrest.
The value of the recovered beats is ZWL$1 600.
