12 additional years for robbers on life sentences

Prosper Dembedza, Herald Correspondent

Three robbers who are already serving life sentences were yesterday sentenced to an additional 12 years imprisonment each after Harare magistrate Loice Mukunyadze found them guilty of assaulting Ropafadzo  Mukamba and her family in 2020.

Shepherd Chinhara, Kudakwashe Nyashanu and Edison Donza are currently serving life sentences ,and were jointly charged with Bigboy Munyari, who is the only one likely to be released after the new sentence.

The magistrate said the gang were not first offenders, and robbery was a serious offence since it involves planning and execution.

She said although they denied the allegations after a full trial, they had no tangible defence.

The gang went to Ms Mukamba’s house and introduced themselves as CID officers. They said they were looking for her over the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) case which involved former Higher Education Minister, Prof  Jonathan Moyo.

The gang wanted to discuss the issue behind closed doors since it was a sensitive issue.

Ms Mukamba invited them into her dining room. The gang then handcuffed and blindfolded her, while claiming that their partner who was investigating the ZIMDEF case had arrived.

While she was being interviewed, the robbers asked Ms Mukamba what she benefited from the ZIMDEF deal. She told them that she was given US$20 000  and the Mazda BT50 which was parked in the yard.

Chinhara and Nyashanu drove away two motor vehicles that were parked outside while the rest of the gang remained inside. When Ms Mukamba’s husband arrived home, he was ordered to sit down and was handcuffed.

The robbers ransacked the house and found US$47 000 and R15 000, plus two laptops and two Huawei cellphones, before forcing the family into the unregistered Honda Fit belonging to Ms Mukamba.

They drove towards Beatrice, and stopped at Kingston Farm.

At around midnight the robbers tied their victims with a rope onto the car seats, got out of the vehicle, and set it ablaze before running away.

The husband managed to untie himself and untied Ms Mukamba before the car was burnt. When Beatrice police attended the scene, they found the shell of the burnt vehicle.