Drama as cornered traffic cop swallows doctored ticket

A TRAFFIC police officer based at Kamativi in Hwange allegedly under-receipted a traffic fine paid by a motorist and later swallowed the doctored traffic ticket to conceal the evidence after he was cornered over the offence.

Vusumuzi Ncube (27) of ZRP Kamativi Camp appeared in court early this week facing a fraud charge after he allegedly waved down motorist, Soren Lindstrom, at Cross Mabale on March 13 this year and ordered him to pay a fine for driving a car without lug nuts.

The shocked tour operator was further advised that each missing lug nut attracted a fine of $10, which translated to $40 for the four wheels.

Lindstrom allegedly complied and Ncube receipted $40 on the duplicate copy of the ticket he gave to the motorist, while the top copy indicated $10.

After paying the fine, Lindstrom drove away and upon arrival at Ivory Safari Lodge, he inquired from Joel Kasunungure whether it was an offence in Zimbabwe for a motor vehicle not to have lug nuts on its wheels.

Realising that his client had been duped, Kasunungure immediately drove to the police checkpoint, where he found Ncube still at the roadblock.

Kasunungure confronted him over whether it was an offence to drive without lug nuts, and Ncube allegedly became defensive.

When other police officers intervened, Ncube then requested for the ticket he had issued to Lindstrom and swallowed it in a bid to destroy the evidence.

Kasunungure snatched the Z69(j) book number 11/2017 and Ncube's police cap and drove to ZRP Dete, where he made a report, leading to Ncube's arrest.

Ncube denied the fraud charge when he appeared before Hwange magistrate Rose Dube, who remanded him out of custody to November 3 for continuation of trial.