By Rutendo Mapfumo
Two of the four robbers who pounced on the Hwange Catholic Priest, Father Timothy Peacock at St John’s Mission Makwa, are to spend 18 years of their lives behind bars.
The two, Rostele Lostin Ncube (43) and Mehluli Ncube (38), faced two counts of unlawful entry and escaping from lawful custody. The other two of the four, Jerry Ngozo, was acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence while Nehemiah Moyo is now at large after skipping court and a warrant of arrest has been issued.
The robbers appeared before the Hwange regional Magistrate Mark Dzira.
Prosecutor Thulani Ncube told the court that on November 30 last year, at around 1am, the four men entered St John's Mission Catholic through the main gate and attacked George Shoko before robbing Father Peacock who was sleeping.
The men pointed a pistol Shoko and ordered him not to move. Two of the persons produced okapi knives and pointed at Shoko’s abdomen. The accused person searched him and took his blue itel A60. They tied his hands and legs with cable tier and covered his face with a cloth.
Two of the accused persons proceeded to the priest house at the Mission and broke a window to gain entry into the priest’s room where he was sleeping. They throttled him and grabbed him by the waist and legs and tied him up as well.
They opened the Priest’s wardrobe and stole US$60, 370 Euros and 100 British pounds and left St John Makwa Mission.
In December 2023 police officers received information and arrested Mehluli Ncube at South Mining Company along Victoria Falls Road after a high speed chase from Cinderella. Upon arresting the accused, police officers recovered two iron bars, an axe, red bold cutter, and balaclavas.
Mehluli Ncube subsequently led police to Lupane to Rostele Lostin Ncube’s girlfriend’s where Rostele was hiding. Upon realising that the police was looking for him, he tried to escape and police were forced to fire three warning shots and was arrested.
These two accused pleaded guilty to the charges.
