Villagers in soup for malicious damage of property

THIRTEEN Arda Transau villagers, who were relocated to Odzi, were on Thursday granted bail by Mutare magistrate, Tamara Chibindi when they appeared before the court facing charges of malicious damage to property.

The 13 villagers had run amok and set houses of fellow villagers on fire, accusing them of illegally settling on their grazing land.

The villagers — Charles Mauchaza (49), Simbarashe Mapara (32), Valentine Machodo (19), Ndarerwa Mwanditani (40), Tanaka Machodo (18), Obert Nyazika (45), Goodmore Muzvidzwa (42), Prosper Kobi (22), Forgiveness Machodo (22), Carlos Tande (30), Perkins Manjese, Tinashe Mapara (25), Tinashe Takodzwa (22) — appeared before Mutare magistrate Tamara Chibindi facing four counts of malicious damage to property.

The accused persons are being represented by Mutare lawyer Brian Majamanda.

The complainant in the first count is Victor Maponde (30), who resides in Village 6 Arda Transau.

Allegations were that on January 11, 2020 at around 7am, the accused persons connived and proceeded to the complainant’s homestead armed with machetes, axes, catapults and logs.

Upon seeing the accused persons approaching, Maponde ran away, but the team chased him and caught him.

The accused person force-marched Maponde back to his homestead, where they ordered him to remove property from his house before setting it on fire.

Maponde lost property valued at $50 000.

On the second count, the complainant, Tinashe Ndowa, alleged that the accused persons went to his house and blamed him for stealing Charles Mauchaza’s plough.

They then ordered Ndowa to remove his property, an order he refused to comply with. They allegedly broke his television set worth $9 639 into pieces and left.

On count three, the complainant, Tendai Nyangani, said he was ordered to remove his property by the accused persons who blamed him for illegally settling himself at an area meant for grazing land.

It is alleged that they violently used machetes to destroy his household property and then set his house on fire.

Nyangani lost property worth thousands of dollars.

On count four, the accused allegedly set Adam Sibiya’s house on fire after also accusing him of illegally settling himself on their grazing area.