Armed robber jailed 15 years

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AN ARMED robber who raided a Bulawayo home three years ago and shot one of the family members before taking off with cash and property worth $5 000 was yesterday slapped with an effective 15-year jail term.

AN ARMED robber who raided a Bulawayo home three years ago and shot one of the family members before taking off with cash and property worth $5 000 was yesterday slapped with an effective 15-year jail term.

BY SILAS NKALA

Morgan Zulani Ndlovu (32), of Hillside in Bulawayo, whose trial had dragged since 2013 after he pretended to be mentally ill, was convicted on one count of attempted murder and another of armed robbery when he appeared before Bulawayo regional magistrate Abednicho Ndebele.

Ndebele found him not guilty of another count of armed robbery and acquitted him.

“In sentencing you, the court considered you stayed in prison for over two years,” Ndebele said. “But it would seem you authored your stay in prison by pretending to be insane. When you robbed Najma Lunat, you had planned because one of your gang members Richard Fambirai visited the flat pretending to be a Zesa official the previous day. The next day he went back with you and other gang members.”

Ndebele said during the robbery they shot Aisha Moosa Lunat who spent five weeks in hospital. He said that cost her family a lot of money in medical bills.

Prosecutor Conciliah Ncube told the court that on July 23, 2013, Ndlovu in the company of Fambirai (33), Bruce Ziyambi (37) and Daniel Nkosi (22) went to number 40 Josiah Tongogara Street in Bulawayo.

They met two maids and produced firearms before force-marching them into the house where they met Aisha and Ndlovu shot her once on the stomach.

They went to the third floor of the flat where they met Najma Lunat and threatened to shoot her before force-marching her into her bedroom. They stole some jewellery and $20 before they escaped by scaling the precast wall.

Najma called her husband Ahmed Moosa Lunat to the flat.

On arrival he saw the robbers escaping and drove after them at a distance. They fired shots at him, but missed.

Police later arrested Nkosi who implicated Ndlovu leading to his arrest. Ndlovu led them to the recovery of two revolvers hidden in a refuse pit. The value of the goods and cash stolen was $5 000, but only items worth $200 were recovered.