BY STAFF REPORTER
Police in Hope Fountain, Bulawayo, have arrested two boys from Binga for robbery.
The accused, Billiat Mumpande, a male adult aged 20 of Sinamagonde, Binga, and his co-accused, a male juvenile aged 16 from the same village, were arrested for their involvement in a robbery that occurred on October 17 and 18.
On October 17, at around 1800 hours, the complainant, a male adult aged 48 of Hope Fountain, was at his workplace when he was approached by the accused persons who pretended to make some genuine enquiries from him.
Billiat and the 16-year-old boy were armed with pellet guns, and Tedious Dube, who is still at large, was armed with an Okapi knife.
The accused persons suddenly pointed their pellet guns at the complainant, threatening to shoot him.
Tedious also produced his Okapi knife, threatening to harm the complainant if he made any form of resistance.
The accused persons then force-marched the complainant into his room, where they ordered him to sit down. They searched his pockets and took his cash, US$413, which was in his pair of trousers’ pocket, and his Huawei cellphone, the police said.
The accused persons went on to ransack the complainant’s room, looking for valuables, but managed to take the complainant’s solar panel.
After taking the complainant’s property, the accused persons locked him inside his room from outside and went away with the keys.
On October 18, at around 0630 hours, the complainant, a female adult aged 28 years of the same place, opened the shop for the day’s business at her workplace.
While she was in the shop, the owner of the shop came to the shop, intending to do a stock take. After some minutes, a customer also got into the shop, intending to buy bread.
As the three complainants were all in the shop, the three accused persons got into the shop, pretending to be genuine customers.
One of the accused persons tendered US$3 and asked the shopkeeper to serve them with one loaf of bread and a 2-liter Coke.
The shopkeeper then told them that their money was not enough.
During the conversation, Tedious , who was armed with an Okapi knife, went beyond the shop counter where the owner of the shop and her shopkeeper were standing and threatened to stab the shopkeeper while demanding money.
He went on to search the shop shelves, taking US$430, which was on the shelf, US$60, which was on the Biscuit plastic container, one 750ml Viceroy, four 100ml Mayfair beers, one 750ml Cape Real spirit beer, the shopkeeper’s Itel cellphone, and threatened the owner of the shop with an Okapi knife and forcibly took her Itel cellphone.
The accused persons further slapped the customer on her forehead and forcibly took her Samsung Galaxy cellphone, and they then fled from the scene.
The report was made at the police station, and the police attended the scene and made some investigations at the scene, where they uncovered that the accused persons were staying in a local bush hideout where a local person saw them.
A swift reaction was made, which led to the arrest of Billiat and the 16-year-old boy at the hideout.
The police recovered a black bag with a pellet gun case, a black and red satchel, a black and white Fabian jacket, which the 16-year-old boy was putting on during the commission of the offenses, and a solar panel stolen from the first complainant.
The total value stolen is US$1132, and the value recovered is US$10.
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