12 of 14-gang serial armed robbers convicted

Twelve robbers who include six from Bulawayo who are linked to a 14-member gang of armed robbers that terrorised mines and business premises before they were busted in August 2015 leading to the recovery of an assortment of artillery, have been convicted.

The armed robbers were arrested following a spate of heists countrywide using an AK-47 assault rifle, pistols, axes, iron bars and spikes against their victims.

Those from Bulawayo are Tinashe Chikara (49), Charles Nyandoro (53) Simbarashe Tavengwa (37), Khumbulani Ncube (35), Mgcini Ramachela (33) and Takafa Vumbunu (33).

The others are Ngonidzashe Mutiba (36), Titus Chatukuta (35), Ray Shangari (35), Tinashe Matinyenya (28), Wilson Kaneta (33) and Rodwell Mutunya (34).

They were convicted of armed robbery and contravening the Firearms and Explosives Act by Harare regional magistrate Mr Hosea Mujaya.

Two of the suspects, Doubty Mharadze (39) and Happymore Muchenje (23) accused of setting up some of their victims for the terror gang, were acquitted after the State failed to prove a prima facie case against them.

Mr Mujaya ruled that the rest of the gang had acted in common purpose and convicted each of them of eight counts of armed robbery.

Mr Mujaya delivered the judgment last week following a full trial in which 40 witnesses testified.

"The State managed to prove that this was a well-orchestrated crime and that the accused persons acted in common purpose in all circumstances. The third accused person (Chikara) benefited and was the co-ordinator and ring leader who provided motor vehicles, a hideout farm, storage space for spoils and firearms used," ruled the magistrate.

The prosecutor Michael Reza said the 12 armed robbers yesterday completed their mitigation and they are expected to reply to the State's aggravation on Monday before sentencing.

"From the 14 suspects who appeared in court, 12 of them were convicted and they have since completed their mitigation and what is left is for them to respond to the aggravation by the State after which the magistrate would then pass the sentence," he said.

Mr Reza said four of them have previous convictions.

"Tavengwa, Mutiba, Chikara, Nyandoro and Mutunya have previous convictions. The court should have it on record that Tavengwa committed these offences while he was actually on bail pending appeal over an armed robbery case in which he had been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by a Bulawayo court," Mr Reza said.

According to court papers, the armed robbers were arrested following an incident at Ayrshire Mine in Banket on August 4, 2015, when they waylaid two security vehicles transporting about 6,5kg of gold from the mine to Fidelity Printers in Harare.

The gang proceeded to the mine in four different cars without registration plates.

The court heard that at the time, the gang was armed with six pistols, an AK-47 assault rifle, axes, iron bars and two sets of spikes as they prepared to attack the Safeguard Security company cash-in-transit vehicles.

When the gang was about two kilometres from the mine, they saw the vehicles approaching and threw spikes on the road in a bid to deflate the tyres.

When the victims noticed the spikes and realised they were in danger, they tried to reverse the vehicles, but the gang quickly moved in and deflated the vehicle tyres.

The gang emerged from the right side of the bush, wearing matching blue worksuits and face masks and at the same time opening fire at the security vehicles.

As the area was turned into a battlefield, the gang allegedly used axes, hammers and crowbars to smash the front screen and side windows of the armoured vehicle carrying gold, but the crew did not surrender.

"The crew reversed safely from the firing zone, while the driver of the escort Toyota Hilux car lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a tree, but the accused (gang) kept randomly firing at the stationary vehicle, while the crew returned fire, resulting in one of the gang members getting shot," said Mr Reza.

After some time, the court heard that the armed robbers realised they had lost and drove away in their getaway truck which they later abandoned about 20 kilometres from the scene, leaving trails of blood on the passenger door.

However, during the commission of the offence, some of the gang members were captured by surveillance cameras fitted onto the two armoured vehicles, leading to their positive identification by police.

The blood trail that was left behind was taken for forensic examination and matched one of the suspects, whose wounds were concluded to have been inflicted by a gun shot.

Police pounced on the gang at their hide-out at a 22-roomed farmhouse in Darwendale near Harare.