A SYNDICATE of four men, including two in-laws from Mvuma, has been arraigned before the Gweru Magistrates’ Courts for stealing 42 beasts between July 2012 and May 2014.
By Simon Phiri
The stolen beasts are valued at $19 900 and only 26 were recovered.
Shybow Vurende (30), Prosper Musamanya (52), Never Taruwana (52) and Phillimon Mudzingwa (47) are facing five counts of theft as defined in Section 114 of the Criminal Law and (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
Appearing before magistrate Judith Taruvinga on Monday, the four accused pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody for continuation of trial on August 14.
Prosecutor Andrew Marimo said the four hatched a plan to steal cattle from Lalapanzi and nearby areas before selling the beasts to cattle dealers in Mvuma who would share the proceeds.
Marimo said Musamanya and his son-in-law Vurende had the task of herding the stolen cattle to their hideouts, while Taruwana cleared the stolen beasts with the police masquerading as a village head.
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Mudzingwa allegedly marketed and slaughtered the stolen beasts.
In one of the counts, the four accused persons on December 1 2012 allegedly went to Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Boulder Farm in Lalapanzi and stole three beasts.
The court heard the accused drove the cattle to Musamanya’s cattle pen and shared the beasts among themselves.
Marimo said on December 30 2013 at around 10pm, two of the accused persons — Vurende and Musamanya — rounded 22 cattle in Lalapanzi belonging to John Dzirovi and selected 13 beasts.
The accused drove the cattle to their hideout only for the complainant to discover the following day that 13 of his beasts were missing.
He reported the matter to police on January 8 2014 and investigations led to the recovery of 11 beasts.
On May 9 2014, the four went to Boulder Fruit Farm belonging to John Kavidza (37) and used pliers to cut a security fence surrounding the complainant’s cattle pen.
They drove out 17 cattle belonging to the complainant to their homestead.
Marimo said the accused slaughtered some of the beasts, sold the meat and shared proceeds.
The complainant reported the matter to police the following day and investigations led to the recovery of 13 beasts.
The four suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded in custody to August 14 for continuation of trial.
