THREE policemen who were stationed at Beitbridge Rural Police Station have been convicted of armed robbery after they robbed a man of a Prado vehicle while he was driving to Harare.
Admore Nyamaropa (30), Andrew Mangwenzi (35) and Prince Mugove Kuchekenya denied the allegations during trial but Harare regional magistrate Estere Chivasa convicted the trio after full trial.
The matter was remanded to today for sentencing.
Prosecutor Heather Muwokoto had told the court that on April 17 last year, Timothy Murasiranwa collected a vehicle from Talent Rapangama with the intention of taking it to Harare in the company of his brother Leeroy Madzivire.
Muwokoto also told the court that Magwenzi and Kuchekenya disembarked from a vehicle which was being driven by Nyamaropa armed with a gun.
The ex-policemen approached Musariranwa who took off at a high speed and alerted his brother Madzivire and they left in Madzivire's car leaving the Prado without a key on the ignition but the engine was running.
On May 1 last year, detectives received information that Samuel Chiodze was seen driving a vehicle similar to the stolen one and after being interviewed he indicated that he had been instructed to fix the ignition key by one Cosmas Konono.
After further investigation, Konono said he was called by Nyamaropa on April 17, 2023 notifying him that Magwenzi was bringing a Toyota Prado without keys for sale.
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Mangwenzi admitted to the police that he was involved in the armed robbery with Nyamaropa and Kuchekenya.
However, Nyamaropa and Kuchekenya, in their defence, said they were on a patrol when they came across the Toyota Prado vehicle while on their way to a raid in the Beitbridge rural area.
Kuchekenya argued that, as a member of the police intelligence in the area, he noticed that the vehicle had no third plate, insurance and a licence disc.
He said they also intended to check if the car was not smuggled from neighbouring South Africa and they instructed Magwenzi to drive the seized vehicle to Beitbridge town police.
He also said Magwenzi had, however, driven the car to Harare and gave it to a car dealer to sale.
However, Magwenzi said Nyamaropa gave him the car keys but he did not know that the vehicle was stolen.
He also denied being part of the team that approached Musariranwa at the service station saying that he was only given the car to drive to Harare.
