A MBARE burglar has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for stealing Zesa Holdings armoured cables.
Thirty-year-old Sylvester Marima, from Block 2, Mbare Flats in Harare had denied the charges when he appeared before Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo.The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), a Zesa Holdings subsidiary, was represented by Tofara Chimbambo during the trial.
Prosecutor Mandy Chigumira told the court that on December 9 last year, Marima sneaked into the ZETDC premises, took advantage that no one was present and force-opened a backdoor using an unknown object to gain entry.
Chigumira indicated that while inside, Marima damaged 15 core armoured cables which run from the ceiling to the Zesa distribution board box. The court also heard that Marima went on to burn the cables with the intention to extract the copper.
The offence was discovered by Taurai Mangombe, a mechanic, who was conducting his business opposite to the ZETDC premises.Mangombe testified that he saw some smoke and went to investigate.
He told the court that he saw Marima and his accomplices, who are still at large, burning the cables.Chigumira said Mangombe then phoned the CID Minerals, Fauna and Flora Unit detectives, leading to Marima’s arrest.Police recovered the burnt armoured cables.
Marima’s accomplices fled from the scene after they noticed the detectives.Chimbambo, the ZETDC loss control officer, was called and confirmed that the property belonged to the power company.
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