15 beneficiaries of amnesty rearrested for murder, robbery

Crime Reporter

At least 15 convicts who benefited from the Presidential Clemency Order last month have been rearrested for offences including murder and armed robbery.

Last month, 4 270 prisoners countrywide were allowed to go home after their sentences were reduced.

President Mnangagwa issued the clemency order to de-congest national prisons and promote better living conditions.

The inmates were released following a meticulous process of verifying potential beneficiaries.

In an interview yesterday, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that a total of 15 had been re-arrested countrywide.

“They were arrested for offences such as theft, unlawful entry and theft, stock theft, armed robbery and murder,” he said. 

Of the 15, one was arrested in Harare for murder, two in Matabeleland South for armed robbery and one in Mashonaland West Province for stock theft. The rest were arrested for theft and unlawful entry.

Some of them have been convicted while others still have their cases pending before the courts.

A Harare man who recently benefited from the Presidential clemency is back behind bars after being sentenced to an effective one-year jail term for stealing blankets, an inverter and phones from a house in Borrowdale, Harare.

Brian James (23) was convicted of unlawful entry charges on his own plea of guilty by Harare magistrate Mrs Ethel Rutendo Chichera.

Initially, Mrs Chichera sentenced the unrepentant James to 15 months in jail but suspended three months on the condition of good behaviour.
The State proved that on May 21 at around 10.45 am, Ms Amanda Nkobwe left home going to church, leaving all windows closed and doors locked. 

Ms Nkobwe left the keys on the lower part of the roof, where she usually left them, just in case her housemates returned home earlier.

James confirmed to the court that he used the keys to unlock the doors after seeing Ms Nkobwe placing them on the roof.

As soon as Ms Nkobwe had left for church, James went to the house and took the keys from the roof, unlocked the door and entered the house. 

He then stole a Huawei cellphone, an Itel cellphone, an inverter and two blankets.