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3 police officers to hang
01 Jul 2014 at 03:10hrs | Views
Three Zimbabwe Republic of Police (ZRP) officers are to hang for a cold-blooded murder of a security guard at Gletwin Farm, Chishawasha in 2010 in a stillborn armed robbery case, the High Court ruled yesterday.
High Court judge, Justice Hlekani Mwayera said the record of the ruling would be sent to President Robert Mugabe for review, though the police officers Kudzai Madziro, Leeroy Muteyera, Ronald Sambo and a civilian Emmanuel Dolosi had the right to appeal against sentence at the Supreme Court.
"You have the right to appeal against the sentence at the Supreme Court, but in the meantime our ruling record will be sent to President Mugabe for review. We have studied your mitigation that you have spent four years in remand without your case being heard, that you are family men, but we have found out your moral blameworthiness is high," Justice Mwayera said.
"The court has taken into consideration Section 48 2(a) of the constitution whether or not to impose the death penalty. We have also took into cognisance that accused two, three and four committed armed robbery while they were police officers who are supposed to be custodians of the law. The courts do not tolerate cases where police officers turn into armed robbers and in this case, death sentence is appropriate."
It was the state's case that sometime in June 2010, the four accused, in the company of their accomplices, Clever Ndlovu (now deceased) and Ocean Munjeri (currently at large) connived and hatched a plan to steal through armed robbery some building materials which were at Gletwin Farm, Chishawasha, Harare. The farm is owned by the police force.
They agreed that Madziro, Muteyera, Sambo and Ndlovu, all being police officers, would provide their service pistols, while Dolosi and Munjeri would provide get away vehicles, a Toyota Hiace and a Vaux-Hall.
On July 2 2010, at about 0245 hrs, the accused persons proceeded to Gletwin Farm where they intended to steal the building materials which they knew were under protection from security guards.
Upon entering the premises, the accused confronted the two security guards, produced their pistols and forced them to lie down.
They tied their hands with shoelaces and bag handles.
Dolosi then remained behind guarding the two security guards while Muteyera, Sambo, Munjeri and Ndlovu proceeded to the storeroom where building materials were stored.
The state submitted that along the way, they met Peter Munzverengu, who was by the chicken run and ordered him to lie down.
Munzverengu screamed for help, thereby alerting another security guard, Edson Manembe, who was manning the storeroom.
As Manembe went to investigate, the accused persons fired three shots, hitting him on the cheek, chest and stomach before fleeing the scene without stealing anything.
Manembe was later ferried to Parirenyatwa Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dumisani Mtombeni represented Sambo in the case while Douglas Chesa of the Prosecutor General stood in for the state.
High Court judge, Justice Hlekani Mwayera said the record of the ruling would be sent to President Robert Mugabe for review, though the police officers Kudzai Madziro, Leeroy Muteyera, Ronald Sambo and a civilian Emmanuel Dolosi had the right to appeal against sentence at the Supreme Court.
"You have the right to appeal against the sentence at the Supreme Court, but in the meantime our ruling record will be sent to President Mugabe for review. We have studied your mitigation that you have spent four years in remand without your case being heard, that you are family men, but we have found out your moral blameworthiness is high," Justice Mwayera said.
"The court has taken into consideration Section 48 2(a) of the constitution whether or not to impose the death penalty. We have also took into cognisance that accused two, three and four committed armed robbery while they were police officers who are supposed to be custodians of the law. The courts do not tolerate cases where police officers turn into armed robbers and in this case, death sentence is appropriate."
It was the state's case that sometime in June 2010, the four accused, in the company of their accomplices, Clever Ndlovu (now deceased) and Ocean Munjeri (currently at large) connived and hatched a plan to steal through armed robbery some building materials which were at Gletwin Farm, Chishawasha, Harare. The farm is owned by the police force.
They agreed that Madziro, Muteyera, Sambo and Ndlovu, all being police officers, would provide their service pistols, while Dolosi and Munjeri would provide get away vehicles, a Toyota Hiace and a Vaux-Hall.
On July 2 2010, at about 0245 hrs, the accused persons proceeded to Gletwin Farm where they intended to steal the building materials which they knew were under protection from security guards.
They tied their hands with shoelaces and bag handles.
Dolosi then remained behind guarding the two security guards while Muteyera, Sambo, Munjeri and Ndlovu proceeded to the storeroom where building materials were stored.
The state submitted that along the way, they met Peter Munzverengu, who was by the chicken run and ordered him to lie down.
Munzverengu screamed for help, thereby alerting another security guard, Edson Manembe, who was manning the storeroom.
As Manembe went to investigate, the accused persons fired three shots, hitting him on the cheek, chest and stomach before fleeing the scene without stealing anything.
Manembe was later ferried to Parirenyatwa Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dumisani Mtombeni represented Sambo in the case while Douglas Chesa of the Prosecutor General stood in for the state.
Source - Zim Mail
