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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
TWELVE armed robbers, six of them from Bulawayo who are linked to a 14-member gang of armed robbers that terrorised mines and business premises before they were busted in August 2015 leading to the recovery of an assortment of artillery, have each been sentenced to 62 years in jail.

The armed robbers were arrested following a spate of heists countrywide using an AK-47 assault rifle, pistols, axes, iron bars and spikes against their victims.

Those from Bulawayo are Tinashe Chikara (49), Charles Nyandoro (53), Simbarashe Tavengwa (37), Khumbulani Ncube (35), Mgcini Ramachela (33) and Takafa Vumbunu (33).

The others are Ngonidzashe Mutiba (36), Titus Chatukuta (35), Ray Shangari (35), Tinashe Matinyenya (28), Wilson Kaneta (33) and Rodwell Mutunya (34).

They were convicted of eight counts of armed robbery and contravening the Firearms and Explosives Act by Harare regional magistrate Mr Hosea Mujaya.

Two of the suspects, Doubty Mharadze (39) and Happymore Muchenje (23) — accused of setting up some of their victims for the terror gang — were acquitted after the State failed to prove a prima facie case against them.

Mr Mujaya suspended 10 years for Mutiba, Chatukuta, Shangari, Kaneta, Ramachela, Ncube and Vumbunu, who were considered first offenders.

But Tavengwa, who had two previous convictions, had his four-year previous suspended jail term brought into effect and will now serve 66 years, while Chikara, a former senior police officer, had eight years suspended from his sentence.

The court also suspended five years for Matinyenya after he was also considered to have had a previous conviction on an armed robbery matter.
Nyandoro will serve the effective sentence after receiving no suspension.

Mr Mujaya also ruled that the recovered AK-47 assault rifle and several other pistols would be forfeited to the State, leaving only two pistols, which would be returned to their owners as they were stolen by the gang during the commission of the crimes.

Chikara’s two vehicles, a Toyota Harrier and a Mercedes-Benz were also forfeited to the State, while his Norton farm, which was used as the gang’s hide-out, was spared.

The prosecutor, Mr Michael Reza said the armed robbers were arrested following an incident at Ayrshire Mine in Banket on August 4, 2015, when they waylaid two security vehicles transporting about 6,5kg of gold from the mine to Fidelity Printers in Harare.

The gang proceeded to the mine in four different cars without registration plates.

The court heard that at the time, the gang was armed with six pistols, an AK-47 assault rifle, axes, iron bars and two sets of spikes as they prepared to attack the Safeguard Security company cash-in-transit vehicles.

When the gang was about two kilometres from the mine, they saw the vehicles approaching and threw spikes on the road in a bid to deflate the tyres.

When the victims noticed the spikes and realised they were in danger, they tried to reverse the vehicles, but the gang quickly moved in and deflated the vehicle tyres.

The gang emerged from the right side of the bush, wearing matching blue worksuits and face masks and at the same time opening fire at the security vehicles.

As the area was turned into a battlefield, the gang allegedly used axes, hammers and crowbars to smash the front screen and side windows of the armoured vehicle carrying gold, but the crew did not surrender.

“The crew reversed safely from the firing zone, while the driver of the escort Toyota Hilux car lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a tree, but the accused (gang) kept randomly firing at the stationary vehicle, while the crew returned fire, resulting in one of the gang members getting shot,” said Mr Reza.

After some time, the court heard that the armed robbers realised they had lost and drove away in their getaway truck which they later abandoned about 20 kilometres from the scene, leaving trails of blood on the passenger door.

However, during the commission of the offence, some of the gang members were captured by surveillance cameras fitted onto the two armoured vehicles, leading to their positive identification by police.

The blood trail that was left behind was taken for forensic examination and matched one of the suspects, whose wounds were concluded to have been inflicted by a gun shot.

Police pounced on the gang at their hide-out at a 22-roomed farmhouse in Darwendale near Harare.

Meanwhile, the gang is now set to be transferred to Bulawayo where they are expected to face another 11 counts for similar offences. — @mashnets.