Decade behind bars for cables thief
A MEMBER of the Johanne Masowe Apostolic Church sect, who is a truck driver, has been jailed for an effective 10 years after he was found guilty of stealing 741 metres of TelOne underground copper cables in Hatfield, Harare.
Brighton Manyara of Glen Norah in Harare was jailed when he appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Letwin Rwodzi after a full trial.
Manyara had denied the charges saying he was only hired to transport scrap metal from the Southerton industrial area to Mbare by a man not known to him.
“On the 8th of March 2021, the man the accused had saved in his phone book as ‘scrap metal’ telephoned him and asked the accused if he was able to transport his fertiliser from Ruwa to Mbare Musika,” he said through his lawyers.
“The accused inquired from his employer and he okayed the transaction. The accused and this man met in Mbare around 6pm and the latter was in the company of another man. The accused was told to use Chiremba Road because these man wanted to pick their colleagues in Epworth who would help to load the fertiliser in Ruwa.
“The accused drove his truck and they arrived in Epworth around 7pm. While in Epworth, they waited for about an hour without anyone joining them. The accused complained that it was getting dark hence could not wait any longer.”
Manyara’s lawyers said the man who had hired him, then got off the truck and made some calls before returning.
It is said the man told Manyara to drive the truck since his colleagues had indicated to him that they were already on their way to Ruwa.
“Since it was getting late, the man who hired the accused told him to use a dust road which passes through some farms to Ruwa because it was a short-cut.
“After driving for about 30 minutes in the dust road, the accused’s truck was overtaken by an unmarked Toyota Wish vehicle (and) 10 minutes later whilst along the dust road, the unregistered Toyota Wish blocked the road in front forcing the accused to suddenly stop his truck.
“Three men disembarked from the unregistered Toyota Wish and rushed towards the accused’s truck. Two of the men were holding metal bars,” said Manyara’s lawyers.
Two of the three men who had disembarked from the Toyota Wish vehicle then got into Manyara’s truck, took control of it and subdued him, before he was tied with shoelaces and being threatened with death.
The lawyers said after a few minutes, one of the men emerged from the bush with the man who had hired Manyara.
From that time, Manyara did not see where his vehicle was being driven to since he was ordered to continue lying facing down.
“The accused only remembers that on two occasions, the truck was stopped for a long time with one of the hijackers who was now driving, disembarking and making calls,” the lawyers from Mudzonga Law Chambers said.
But the State led by Mr Ephraim Zinyandu proved that on March 8 at around midnight, Manyara teamed up with five other men who are still at large and went to remove 741 metres of TelOne underground copper cables at number 139 along Nirvana Road, Hatfield.
On the same night, TelOne’s loss control department received a cable alarm activation signalling that there was a cable theft along St Patrick’s Road in Hatfield.
The TelOne staffers then teamed up with Constable Sylvester Enock from Harare Central Police Station and attended the scene.
Upon arrival at St Patrick’s Road, the team intercepted a Mercedes Benz Axor (registration number AFJ 3194), which was being driven by Manyara while pulling a TelOne underground copper cable.
On being arrested, copper cables worth US$58 539 were recovered.