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Thandeka Moyo Court Reporter
FOUR ex-convicts went back to their old ways and robbed a Hope Fountain miner of his pistol and goods worth nearly $1,000 at gunpoint, a court heard.
Andrew Mutamba, 31, Phillip Mubonesi, 35, and Agreement Sibanda, 27, yesterday appeared before senior Bulawayo regional magistrate Trynos Utahwashe facing armed robbery charges.

All three entered ‘not guilty’ pleas.

Their alleged accomplice, Knowledge Mutizwa, pleaded guilty and implicated the three in mitigation after he was charged separately.

Magistrate Utahwashe remanded Mutamba, Mubonesi and Sibanda, who were released from prison in 2013, also for armed robbery, in custody to tomorrow.

The court heard that on August 23 last year, the trio hatched a plan to attack and rob Ronald Ngwenya who owns Coronation Gold Mine in Hope Fountain.

When they reached the mine, Mutizwa was the first to come out of the vehicle and he met a herdboy at Ngwenya’s gate.

Mutizwa, who was armed with a firearm and an iron bar, hit the herdboy with an iron bar on the head and he fell down.

Mubonesi then fired one shot into the air and they tied the herdboy’s hands with a string, before force-marching him to the bedroom where Ngwenya and his wife were having supper.

They forced the herdboy to ask for kitchen keys and although Ngwenya responded saying the kitchen was open, he continued knocking until Ngwenya opened the door.

At that moment, Mutizwa used a metal bar to strike Ngwenya and he fell down. They then used the same metal bar to assault Ngwenya’s wife once on the head and then tied her hands using a string.

They demanded money and were later directed to a container which had $300.

The men then ransacked the house and stole cell- phones, clothes, blankets, bags, door handles, a mirror, a car cleaning spray and a bottle of hair spray. They fled the scene afterwards.

Ngwenya and his wife sustained serious head injuries and were rushed to hospital.

Only property worth $233 was recovered.