Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
A FILABUSI man who allegedly robbed a shop armed with an AK-47 assault rifle has appeared in court facing armed robbery charges. Judge Sibanda, 20, of Theleka area under Chief Ndube, made a brief appearance yesterday before Gwanda magistrate Arafat Kozanai and was not asked to plead.

He was remanded in custody to October 23. Meanwhile, Sibanda’s father, Levy Sibanda, 47, was yesterday fined $500 or six months imprisonment for unlawful possession of a firearm. Levy was convicted on his own plea of guilty by magistrate Sheila Nazombe. He told the court that he found the firearm while conducting mining activities.

“When I found the firearm, I took it to my homestead and have been keeping it under my bed for almost a year now. I’ve been waiting for my brother who is in Botswana so that he comes and help us acquire a licence,” Levy said.

The magistrate said she had taken into consideration that Levy was a mature first offender who pleaded guilty.

“The offence is serious in that the firearm can be very dangerous if it lands in wrong hands. That’s why you’ve to acquire a licence to possess it. This is to ascertain whether you’ve the capability of securing it in a safe place,” said Nazombe.

“You were keeping it (firearm) under your bed and your son took the firearm to commit a serious offence. It’s aggravatory that you kept the firearm for close to a year. I’ve taken into account that despite that the firearm has been used to commit a serious offence, you didn’t use the firearm and a heavy fine would be appropriate.”

Prosecuting, Moses Gondongwe said on October 8 this year, a team of detectives from CID Gwanda who were investigating a case of armed robbery were led to Levy’s homestead by his son, Judge, who had indicated that his father was the owner of an AK-47 assault rifle that had 18 live rounds.

“Investigations were made leading to the recovery of an AK-47 assault rifle with its outer serial numbers obliterated and working parts serial numbers ground off as well as a loaded magazine of 18 rounds,” Gondongwe told the court.

“The accused had been in possession of the weapon and ammunition until its discovery by his son who later took it to use in an armed robbery.”

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