News / Regional
Cops demand bribe from donkey theft suspect
06 Mar 2015 at 07:59hrs | Views
THREE Gwanda police officers have fallen foul of the law after they allegedly demanded a $30 bribe from a suspect.
Joseph Mazuru, 23, Joe Zacharia Jere, 23, and Matthew Marumisa, 28, are facing extortion charges or an alternative charge of criminal abuse of office as a public officer for allegedly forcing a suspect, Khumbulani Moyo, 47, of Dema village to pay them some money to win back his freedom.
The three appeared before magistrate Olivia Mashava Mashaire on Wednesday and were not asked to plead.
They were remanded out of custody to March, 10, for trial.
Allegations by the State are that sometime in February last year, Moyo's donkeys were stolen by an unknown person.
In August of the same year, Moyo recovered three of them but the earmarks had been tampered with.
Among the donkeys, was one he thought was his actually belonged to one Manager Ndlovu.
Ndlovu recovered his lost donkey from Moyo and reported the matter to the police leading to both of them being summoned to the police station.
Moyo was subsequently arrested. Ndlovu later withdrew the charges but the suspect was not informed of the withdrawal of the case. "The three accused persons then took advantage of that and demanded cash from the complainant, Moyo, who then gave them $30 to be freed.
The complainant reported the case to Chief Masuku who in turn made a report at Zimbabwe Republic Police Gwanda Rural leading to the arrest of the three accused persons for criminally abusing their powers and accepting bribe money," said Mncedisi Dube who represented the State.
Last week, an Esigodini police officer Norman Madhumbu started serving an effective 18-month sentence after he was found guilty of extortion. He had demanded a $400 bribe from a suspect in a matter he was investigating to conceal the crime.
Joseph Mazuru, 23, Joe Zacharia Jere, 23, and Matthew Marumisa, 28, are facing extortion charges or an alternative charge of criminal abuse of office as a public officer for allegedly forcing a suspect, Khumbulani Moyo, 47, of Dema village to pay them some money to win back his freedom.
The three appeared before magistrate Olivia Mashava Mashaire on Wednesday and were not asked to plead.
They were remanded out of custody to March, 10, for trial.
Allegations by the State are that sometime in February last year, Moyo's donkeys were stolen by an unknown person.
In August of the same year, Moyo recovered three of them but the earmarks had been tampered with.
Among the donkeys, was one he thought was his actually belonged to one Manager Ndlovu.
Ndlovu recovered his lost donkey from Moyo and reported the matter to the police leading to both of them being summoned to the police station.
Moyo was subsequently arrested. Ndlovu later withdrew the charges but the suspect was not informed of the withdrawal of the case. "The three accused persons then took advantage of that and demanded cash from the complainant, Moyo, who then gave them $30 to be freed.
The complainant reported the case to Chief Masuku who in turn made a report at Zimbabwe Republic Police Gwanda Rural leading to the arrest of the three accused persons for criminally abusing their powers and accepting bribe money," said Mncedisi Dube who represented the State.
Last week, an Esigodini police officer Norman Madhumbu started serving an effective 18-month sentence after he was found guilty of extortion. He had demanded a $400 bribe from a suspect in a matter he was investigating to conceal the crime.
Source - chronicle
