9 years for taxi robbers

nyundoMashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
TWO Bulawayo men hijacked a taxi driver they had hired and stripped him naked at knife point before robbing him of his cellphone, clothes, a pair of shoes and $25.They later rammed the stolen car into a precast wall.

Frankeen Banda, 27, and Lucky Dube,19, a Njube High School Form Three drop-out, were yesterday convicted on their own plea of guilty to robbery by Bulawayo regional magistrate Mark Dzira.

Banda was sentenced to nine years in jail of which three were conditionally suspended for five years.

Dube will serve an effective four years after three years were suspended for five years on condition he does not within that period commit a similar crime.

Prosecuting, Tinashe Dzipe told how in the early hours of May 18, Banda and Dube approached the victim, Thomas Fambai, 41, a taxi driver employed by Umtshina Wami Taxis.

They hired Fambai’s car on the pretext they wanted to be ferried to Sizinda suburb and they were charged $5.

“On approaching a junction at Imhlotshana and Didinhlandu roads in Sizinda, Dube and Banda pulled out knives and ordered Fambai to stop the car.

“They demanded money before robbing him of $25, clothes, a pair of shoes and a cellphone,” said Dzipe.

The pair ordered Fambai out of his car and drove off leaving him naked and stranded in the dark.

The court was told that Banda and Dube proceeded to a house in Cowdray Park where they picked their cousin, Rodrick Msimanga and drove to a shebeen for a beer drink.

Soon after drinking, Banda and Dube left their cousin at the shebeen and went on a joy ride around Cowdray Park during, which they rammed the car into a precast wall of a house in the high density suburb.

“After they were involved in an accident, Banda and Dube approached the owner of the house and gave her the car keys promising they would return to fix the damaged wall, but they disappeared and never came back,” said Dzipe.

Acting on a tip off, police arrested Banda at his house and he implicated Dube. The stolen car valued at $3,000 was extensively damaged.

In sentencing the two, Dzira noted that there was an increase in cases of taxi drivers falling prey to robbers.

“It is clear that Banda and Dube planned and connived to commit the crime. Robbery cases are on the rise in Bulawayo and there is no doubt drivers are now at high risk especially at night.

“We therefore need to protect taxi drivers as they offer an essential service to our community hence a deterrent sentence is most appropriate,” ruled Dzira.

 

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