Harare, (New Ziana) – Three suspects in a recent robbery in Goromonzi area on the outskirts of Harare have appeared in court charged with four counts of robbery.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ), Sarezi Shonhiwa (57) from Zin’anga Village, Chief Seke, Tafadzwa Dera of Chief Mangwende’s area, Bora appeared before the Harare Magistrates’ Court on four armed robbery counts and another count of contravening the Firearms Act.

They were not asked to plead and advised to apply to the High Court for bail. The State alleges that Shoniwa and Dera and their accomplices who are still at large targeted Nutrition Africa business premises in Tynwald South on June 23 last year around 1.30am.

They attacked workers at the company, and ordered them to lie down before they tied their hands and legs using shoe laces.

They forcibly took their smart phones and covered their heads with sacks. Later, they force-marched them to a room where the company money was kept. They ransacked the room and took an assortment of groceries valued at US$460.

During the commotion, an alarm went off, prompting the accused persons to flee the scene.

On July 12 last year around 11.30pm, the two men and their accomplices used a pistol to rob another industrial premises in Tynwald and walked away with US$1 500 and an assortment of electrical gadgets worth US$4 500.

They staged another robbery at a house in Christon Bank, Harare, on October 24 this year and walked away with property worth US$20 000 including the complainant’s Toyota Rav4 motor vehicle. Shoniwa was arrested on November 9 following a tip-off.

He had been captured on CCTV during a robbery which took place at a Goromonzi Farm on November 3. He led to Dera’s arrest in Murehwa and the recovery of jewellery stolen during the robbery on November 11.

Dera was implicated in a spate of robberies and found in possession of a pistol which was stolen during the Christon Bank robbery.

During the Goromonzi robbery, they walked away with property worth US$16 000. The two were remanded in custody.

New Ziana