BARELY two weeks after three detectives stationed at CID
Mutare were arrested for extortion, two more cops from the same station have
been arraigned before the courts to face criminal abuse of duty charges
involving 2 300 rands.
Robert Mudhumbu (39) and Masuku Bothwell (31) recently
appeared before magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe for contravening Section 174 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9:23.
They were not asked to plead and were granted $5 000 bail
each and remanded to July 24 for trial. The court ordered the duo not to interfere with State
witnesses as well as to report every Friday at Mutare Central Police Station.
District public prosecutor, Mr Tirivanhu Mutyasira said the
crime was committed on July 9 at around midnight.
“The two accused persons who are police detectives went to
MPC Garage opposite Red Cross along Chimanimani Road where they approached the
complainants as they were offloading their truck which was loaded with
groceries from South Africa.
“They demanded some declaration forms from the truck driver
and they were given. However, they insisted that the goods were not declared.
The cops then demanded 2 300 rand to cover up the complainants’ offence.
“The complainants tried to negotiate with the accused
persons, but they refused to budge. The complainants then handed over the money
that was being demanding. After receiving the money, the suspects disappeared
from the scene.
In a separate case, three detectives from CID Mutare
allegedly teamed up with a civilian to demand US$400 from an illegal diamond
dealer.
On Monday, they were back in court on routine remand. They are also facing extortion charges. The trio — Sithandazile Ndlovu (35), Tendai
Mudhari (35) and Lawrence Kashaya (38) — are jointly charged together
with Emmanuel Mapani.
They are out on $5 000 bail each. According to State papers, the suspects committed the
offence on June 25. They allegedly hatched a plan to extort money from the
complainant, Romeo Charles Tembo of Chikanga, Mutare.
Mapani allegedly phoned the complainant saying he had a
client who wanted to buy some diamonds.
The complainant drove to pick Mapani at Trek Service
Station. Once there, he was directed to Bloomwise Restaurant, where
Mapani indicated that he wanted to pick up the buyers, who happened to be
Ndlovu and Mudhari.
On arrival at Bloomwise Restaurant, Ndlovu and Mudhari got
into the complainant’s vehicle and directed him to Macs Shopping Centre in
Palmerstone.
Mudhari and Ndlovu then produced their police
identification cards.
They allegedly searched the complainant’s vehicle and found
a small digital scale and a money dictator.
Kashaya arrived at the shopping centre and handcuffed the
complainant. He told the diamond dealer that he was under arrest for illegally
dealing in diamonds.
The suspects demanded US$1000 from the complainant so that
they could release him.
They even threatened to plant some diamonds in his car
if he refused to give them the money.
The complainant phoned Luckmore Chikowe, who came and gave
him US$380. He added another US$20 and gave the US$400 to Mapani. Kashaya then unhandcuffed Tembo and ordered him and Chikowe
to drive off.
Post
0 comments:
Post a Comment