Bulawayo man in court for stealing bus

A MAN from Bulawayo has appeared in court for allegedly stealing a bus worth more than US$31 000 from a garage in Thorngrove suburb.

Bongani Dube (41) of Njube suburb allegedly stole the bus belonging to Mr Kaiser DliwayoSaungweme (68) of Somerset East Extension, Francistown Botswana.

The bus had been parked at Mr Jobert Maplanka’s garage in Thorngrove for safe keeping.

Dube was not asked to plead to theft of a motor vehicle when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mr Lizwe Jamela.

He was remanded out of custody to February 7 on his own cognisance.

Prosecuting, Mr Denmark Chihombe said sometime in 2015, Mr Dliwayo-Saungweme was involved in an accident along the BulawayoGweru road.

“The complainant then decided to take his bus to Mr Maplanka’s garage for safe keeping as the bus had Botswana registration number,” said Mr Chihombe

Between December 2015 and March 2019, Dube approached Mr Maplanka who was in custody of the bus and told him that he had bought the bus from Mr Dliwayo-Saungweme.

“The accused person alleged that he had already finalised sale transactions with the complainant despite the fact that the complainant was in Botswana at the time,” said Mr Chihombe.

Dube allegedly went on to show Mr Maplanka some telephone calls which he allegedly said were between him and Mr Dliwayo-Saungweme as a way of convincing him that he bought the bus.

“The accused assumed ownership of the bus which was a non-runner. The complainant values the stolen property at approximately US$31 400 and nothing was recovered,” said Mr Chihombe.—@missngara.