Zimpapers Logo

Emily Mbewe Court Reporter
TWO Bulawayo man allegedly broke into a house whose owner was abroad, stole all the property before changing the house ownership and selling it. Elphas Ncube, 43, of Nkulumane 5, and Philip Mbonesi Sithole aka Livion Moyo, 36, allegedly conducted an auction where they invited members of the public to the house in the leafy suburb of Burnside and sold all the property.

Ncube allegedly grabbed one of the beds and slept on it at his home until his arrest.

The duo appeared yesterday before Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze facing charges of unlawful entry and fraud.

They were not asked to plead and remanded in custody to March 18.

Ncube is an ex-convict who was released in 2013 after serving eight years for a similar offence, while Sithole is appearing in other courts facing different charges.

The state alleges that sometime between the months of June and July 2014, Sithole and Ncube secured duplicate keys to a house in Burnside. They then changed the entire locking system.

The court heard that when they had access to the house, the pair conducted an auction where they sold all the movable property which included dining room suites, bed bases, refrigerators and microwaves.

The court heard that the pair then went to some lawyers who somehow helped them acquire the house’s title deeds before selling it.

The owner of the house, Vusimazulu Nkomo, 50, reportedly collapsed when the issue came to light.

Prosecuting, Charles Danda told the court that on March 7 this year, acting on a tip off, detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Hillside went to Benjamin Chinjekure’s house and recovered a headboard and a dressing table.

Danda told the court that a set of eight chairs, room divider and a double bed were found at Princess Sibanda’s house in Emakhandeni suburb.

The department’s investigations led to the arrest of Ncube and Nkomo identified one of his beds from Ncube’s bedroom.

“When Ncube was arrested he implicated Sithole as his accomplice,” said Danda.

The court heard that on March 12, an identification parade was organised where Chinjekure, Sibanda and Rachel Malunjwa picked the two as the people who conducted the house auction.

The value of the stolen property is $19,740 and goods worth $6,000 were recovered.

It was not mentioned in court how much the house was sold for or how the pair got hold of the title deeds.

However, court records show Ncube and Sithole had never met Nkomo before they sold his house.