A suspected serial thief was on Tuesday morning caught in the act after he fell from the ceiling of a building in Gwanda town centre.
The suspect was apprehended at a place commonly known as
Emabhizeni along 4th Avenue. Emabhizeni is part of partitioned shops that share
one roof.
A Chronicle news crew arrived at the crime scene shortly
before 9AM, and the suspect was with police in a car as members of the public
bayed for his blood.
The daring thief is suspected to have entered one of the
shops in the wee hours and broken through the ceiling to access other shops
before stealing property. He was spotted by a worker in the next building who
raised alarm.
The thief panicked and fell from the ceiling. As he tried
to flee using the front door, he was apprehended and was lucky police were
nearby before the public meted instant justice on him.
“I was just arriving for work when I heard sounds at the
back. I made a follow up as it was still quiet with most people not having
reported to work yet. I saw the thief trying to jump from the ceiling.
“I managed to climb into the ceiling and chased after him
and he fell into a shop next door to us commonly known as China Shop. Security
details managed to catch him before he fled from the scene,” said a supermarket
employee.
A man of the cloth, Reverend Fred Kamanga of Zimbabwe
Christians Empowerment Fellowship, said the thief broke a window at his shop to
gain access to other shops.
“The thief broke a top corner window and managed to lift
the window handle before he gained access. He ransacked the place and only
found a knife in a drawer. He then broke the ceiling before he went to other
shops,” said Reverend Kamanga.
A cellphone dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity said
they were trying to establish some of the things he might have stolen as a bag
full of their belongings was recovered.
“We are still trying to ascertain what else this person
might have stolen as we recovered a satchel which had belongings from a number
of us in this shop,” said the cell phones dealer.
Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson Inspector
Loveness Mangena confirmed the arrest.
She could not release his identity as he is assisting
police with investigations on other cases he is allegedly linked to around the
town.
“I can confirm that we arrested a man in Gwanda who had
broken into shops around the CBD,” said Insp Mangena.
A police source said the accused person spent the day
assisting police working on other cases he is suspected to be linked with in
the mining town.
“As of now, the suspect is still under the CID department
as he is linked with other crimes thus, he is not available at the station,”
said the source. Chronicle
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