News / National
NetOne cable thief jailed, 3 others await sentence
06 Aug 2018 at 07:25hrs | Views
A 26-YEAR-OLD telecommunication cables thief, Allion Musakwa, was last week sentenced to 10 years in prison for vandalising telecommunication cables while his three other accomplices were convicted of the same offence and now await sentence by Harare magistrate Josephine Sande.
Musakwa's co-accused - Tawanda Chataika, David Alexander and Kirk Joseph - are likely to be handed the same sentence after they failed to proffer special circumstances in their defence.
The court heard that on July 3 this year, TelOne's Harare central business district loss control officer Abraham Chimwaira was on duty and received an electronic signal indicating a cables disturbance.
Chimwaira then teamed up with other TelOne workers and proceeded to the scene and found Chataika in the main hole, with a hacksaw blade and cutting underground cables.
Chataika was arrested and two metres of TelOne cables worth $150 and a hacksaw blade were recovered. Alexander and Joseph of Arcadia were also arrested on July 8 after they tried to steal TelOne copper communication cables in their neighbourhood.
The court further heard that on June 14 this year, a security alarm alerted Washington Ngadze and Simon Murambatsvina, who were on night duty, that someone was tampering with TelOne cables along Grant Street, prompting them to rush to the scene.
On arrival, they intercepted Musakwa, who was coming out of a TelOne main hole holding three cables measuring three metres each and valued at $530.
Musakwa was arrested and handed over to the police.
Francisca Mukumbiri appeared for the State.
Musakwa's co-accused - Tawanda Chataika, David Alexander and Kirk Joseph - are likely to be handed the same sentence after they failed to proffer special circumstances in their defence.
The court heard that on July 3 this year, TelOne's Harare central business district loss control officer Abraham Chimwaira was on duty and received an electronic signal indicating a cables disturbance.
Chimwaira then teamed up with other TelOne workers and proceeded to the scene and found Chataika in the main hole, with a hacksaw blade and cutting underground cables.
Chataika was arrested and two metres of TelOne cables worth $150 and a hacksaw blade were recovered. Alexander and Joseph of Arcadia were also arrested on July 8 after they tried to steal TelOne copper communication cables in their neighbourhood.
The court further heard that on June 14 this year, a security alarm alerted Washington Ngadze and Simon Murambatsvina, who were on night duty, that someone was tampering with TelOne cables along Grant Street, prompting them to rush to the scene.
On arrival, they intercepted Musakwa, who was coming out of a TelOne main hole holding three cables measuring three metres each and valued at $530.
Musakwa was arrested and handed over to the police.
Francisca Mukumbiri appeared for the State.
Source - newsday
