Soldier, friend up for assault, robbery

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A MEMBER of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) based at the Brad Baracks in Bulawayo and his civilian friend allegedly attacked a city woman in broad daylight and robbed her of her mobile phones worth $100.

A MEMBER of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) based at the Brad Baracks in Bulawayo and his civilian friend allegedly attacked a city woman in broad daylight and robbed her of her mobile phones worth $100.

BY SILAS NKALA

The complainant was coming from a music show at a city bar.

The soldier, Wonderful Nhunduza (28) and a friend Willard Makwindi (22) appeared in court last week and were not asked to plead to the charge of assault and robbery when they appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Merilyn Mtshina.

Prosecutor Danmore Kasenza asked the court to place the case off remand indicating that the State needed to verify some facts with the police and would want to send the docket back to the police station for some clarification of issues.

The magistrate ruled that the case would proceed by way of summons when the State completes its investigations.

Allegations against Nhunduza and Makwindi are that on March 28 2015 at 1:40pm the complainant Beauty Hlabangana was in the company of her friend Portia Dube coming from Waverly Bar along Lobengula Street.

One of the two accused spoke in Shona saying they were under arrest. Hlabangana and Dube decided to flee, but Nhunduza and Makwindi gave chase and caught them before assaulting them.

People who witnessed the assault did not attempt to rescue them, the court heard.

Hlabangana sought sanctuary at a nearby restaurant, but a security guard denied her entry and she ran further across the road where she was blocked by a vehicle and dropped the two mobile phones.

The phones were picked by Makwindi who then tried to flee from the scene, but was chased by a taxi driver who caught him.

Nhunduza was the first to be arrested.

Total value of the stolen cellphones was $100 and were all recovered.

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