News / Local
Cash van robber fights extradition from Zimbabwe
24 Apr 2013 at 05:55hrs | Views
EXTRADITION proceedings began on Tuesday against a Zimbabwean man who allegedly fled South Africa in 2009 with R4,6 million [about US$505,000) after robbing a cash van he was driving.
Jethro Menzi Tshuma, 41, was working for South African security company, SBV Services, when he failed to make cash drops at several First National Bank branches around Johannesburg.
The security van he was driving was found abandoned, but he was nowhere to be seen.
After a four-year investigation by a private investigator hired by his former employer, Tshuma was arrested in January this year in Bulawayo.
Police found he had two identities. On a Zimbabwean ID bearing his picture, his name was listed as Jethro Menzi Tshuma, while a South African ID which he used to gain employment bore then name Jerrote Menzi Khumalo.
He was fined US$400 by a Lupane magistrate earlier this year after pleading guilty to possessing dual citizenship, which is prohibited under Zimbabwean law.
As his extradition hearing got underway on Tuesday, Tshuma's lawyer Godfrey Nyoni said they would be fighting the extradition.
"It appears to us that the South African police are not very involved in the case and a private investigator is leading the investigations, is at the forefront, which puts my client's safety at risk if this extradition is allowed," the lawyer said in court.
Nyoni also argued that the extradition application by the State had no merit, insisting that theft could be tried anywhere without the need to extradite a suspect.
But Warrant Officer Coert van Schalkwyk of the South African Police Service, taking the witness stand, maintained that Tshuma had a case to answer in South Africa.
Prosecutors will call more witnesses, including a legal expert, to bolster their extradition application.
A fingerprint expert is also expected to testify that Jethro Menzi Tshuma and Jerotte Menzi Khumalo are one and the same person.
Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, for the State, told the court how Tshuma allegedly fled South Africa with his wife and two children after stealing R4,656,000 in cash which was loaded on his van inside 22 sealed canvas bags.
Tshuma's wife, Cathrine Kuwane, has not been charged. She is believed to have set up businesses in Lupane after returning home. Locals knew her as MaMguni.
Jethro Menzi Tshuma, 41, was working for South African security company, SBV Services, when he failed to make cash drops at several First National Bank branches around Johannesburg.
The security van he was driving was found abandoned, but he was nowhere to be seen.
After a four-year investigation by a private investigator hired by his former employer, Tshuma was arrested in January this year in Bulawayo.
Police found he had two identities. On a Zimbabwean ID bearing his picture, his name was listed as Jethro Menzi Tshuma, while a South African ID which he used to gain employment bore then name Jerrote Menzi Khumalo.
He was fined US$400 by a Lupane magistrate earlier this year after pleading guilty to possessing dual citizenship, which is prohibited under Zimbabwean law.
As his extradition hearing got underway on Tuesday, Tshuma's lawyer Godfrey Nyoni said they would be fighting the extradition.
Nyoni also argued that the extradition application by the State had no merit, insisting that theft could be tried anywhere without the need to extradite a suspect.
But Warrant Officer Coert van Schalkwyk of the South African Police Service, taking the witness stand, maintained that Tshuma had a case to answer in South Africa.
Prosecutors will call more witnesses, including a legal expert, to bolster their extradition application.
A fingerprint expert is also expected to testify that Jethro Menzi Tshuma and Jerotte Menzi Khumalo are one and the same person.
Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, for the State, told the court how Tshuma allegedly fled South Africa with his wife and two children after stealing R4,656,000 in cash which was loaded on his van inside 22 sealed canvas bags.
Tshuma's wife, Cathrine Kuwane, has not been charged. She is believed to have set up businesses in Lupane after returning home. Locals knew her as MaMguni.
Source - newsday
