AN UNLICENCED Goromonzi man, who stole a fellow church
mate’s commuter omnibus during a prayer session and later dumped it in Shamva,
was on Monday sentenced to a six-year jail term for vehicle theft.
Tedson Gwabada had initially denied the charge of stealing
Abudu Bilani’s vehicle, but Marondera magistrate Ignatius Mhene ruled against
him due to overwhelming evidence presented in court.
The court heard that the stolen vehicle had 11 bags of
shelled maize and a bucket of tomatoes.
Gwabada will serve an effective four-year jail term after
two years were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
On the second count of driving without a driver’s licence,
Gwabada was sentenced to a wholly suspended three-month jail term.
According to court papers, on June 19 this year, Gwabada
accompanied the complainant to Alexandra Farm for a prayer session.
While at the prayer session, Gwabada stealthily left the
scene and walked back to the parked vehicle and drove it to his father’s
homestead at Plot 51, Masala Farm in the Musiiwa area in Goromonzi.
After the prayer session, Bilani discovered that his
vehicle had been stolen and filed a police report.
The vehicle was later found dumped along the Harare-Shamva
Road near Storndorn Farm on June 22, leading to Gwabada’s arrest and recovery
of the car’s keys, a copy of the route authority, and a class 2 driver’s
licence belonging to Justine Justine, who is Bilani’s driver.
Gwabada admitted that he had sold some of the maize he
found in the car. The value of the stolen property was pegged at $10 170 and
only $10 000 worth was recovered.
Courage Chakawa represented the State. Newsday
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