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Trio up for theft of copper pipes worth US$80 000

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THREE Bulawayo men appeared in court charged with theft of copper pipes worth US$80 000 from a company in Pumula South

BY PRAISEMORE SITHOLE

THREE Bulawayo men appeared in court charged with theft of copper pipes worth US$80 000 from a company in Pumula South.

Fastino Magaya (36), Philani Sibanda (38) both of Pumula South and Cosmos Ndlovu (44) of Nkulumane Five in Bulawayo were last week not asked to plead to the charges of theft when they appeared before magistrate Shepherd Mjanja, who remanded them out of custody to October 11 for trial.

It is the State’s case that on August 26, Kudzai Mumvuri, a Primeton Enterprises director, who is the complainant in the matter, was phoned by the caretaker at his company, Simbarashe Njenje advising him that there was a break-in at the premises.

Mumvuri then reported the break-in and theft at the Western Commonage Police Station and the police officers visited the premises before instituting investigations.

It is the State’s case that on the same day, police officers from Pumula received information linking the three suspects to the theft, leading to the arrest of Magaya and the recovery of an electric motor and square copper pipe weighing 14,5kg from him. The copper pipe matched those stolen from Mumvuri.

Magaya was then taken to the Criminal Investigations Department Minerals, Flora and Fauna Unit where he implicated Sibanda and Ndlovu before indicating that they had sold the copper pipes to Ndlovu. This led to the arrest of Sibanda and Ndlovu.

Allegations are that the three accused persons on the day in question went to the company premises during the owner’s absence, where they broke in and stole the copper pipes after vandalising the property.The stolen copper pipes were worth US$80 000 and only US$1 660 worth of pipes were recovered.