Wednesday 15 January 2020

CONVICTED GOLD ORE THIEF VANISHES


A WARRANT of arrest has been issued for a general hand at a mine in Gwanda after he did not turn up in court for sentence after he was convicted of stealing one tonne of gold ore from his employer.

Prince Ndlovu (27) from Phakama suburb, was convicted on his own plea of guilty to theft of gold ore by Gwanda magistrate, Mrs Nomagugu Sibanda.

He was supposed to appear in court on Friday for sentencing but defaulted. He had been remanded out of custody on his own cognisance.

Prosecuting, Mr Noel Mandebvu said on December 19 at around 7PM Ndlovu sent three Dennis Mkandla, Lee Owen Zhira and Misheck Dube who are still at large to steal a tonne of gold ore at Johnny 2 Mine in Gwanda which belongs to Mrs Gillian Ncube.

“On 19 December at around 7PM Mrs Gillian Ncube received a tip off that there were some people who were loading gold ore into a vehicle at her mine. She and her husband went to the mine where they found Mkandla, Zhira and Dube loading a tonne of gold ore into a Toyota Hilux double cab vehicle.

“Mrs Dube and her husband questioned the trio who indicated that they had been hired by Ndlovu to load the gold ore. The trio fled from the scene leaving the vehicle and the gold ore behind. The matter was reported to the police resulting in Ndlovu’s arrest while his accomplices are still at large,’’ he said.

In another incident two EcoCash fraudsters have been arrested after they allegedly bought groceries from a local supermarket in Gwanda using a fake EcoCash message. 

Elvis Muzhona (26) of Blanket Mine and Tanzwisisa Svesvetsai (30) of Vumbachikwe Mine went to Cooland Supermarket and bought goods worth $215 and showed the till operator a fake EcoCash message purporting to have paid.

The offence came to light when Svesvetsai went back to the supermarket and tried to buy more goods using the fake EcoCash message but the till operator noticed that it had been edited.

Muzhona and Svesvetsai were not asked to plead when they appeared before Gwanda magistrate, Mrs Nomagugu Sibanda facing a fraud charge. They were remanded in custody to today for trial.

Prosecuting, Miss Glenda Nare said Muzhona and Svesvetsai committed the offence on August 12 at around 3PM.

“Muzhona and Svesvetsai went to Cooland Supermarket on 12 August at round 3PM where they bought 17 black label beer dummies, a two litre coke and one litre dendairy milk with a total value of $215. They generated a false EcoCash message which Muzhona presented to the till operator and purported to have paid for the groceries.

“The till operator accepted the fake message and issued the pair with a receipt and they left the supermarket. A few minutes later Svesvetsai returned to the supermarket intending to buy more groceries. He showed the till operator the fake EcoCash message purporting to have paid for the groceries but she noticed that the message had been edited,” she said. 

Miss Nare said the till operator notified a security guard and the manager of the supermarket who apprehended Svesvetsai who implicated Muzhona who was standing outside the supermarket.

The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the accused persons. Chronicle

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