A Zvishavane man has been slapped with an effective 10-year jail term after the Gwanda magistrate’s court found him guilty of stealing and selling two motor vehicles as well as converting to his own use $300 which he had been given to pay a debt.
The state was represented by prosecutor Khumbulani Nyoni and it was the state’s case that the accused 28-year-old Shelton Dube of Mandava Township stole a Toyota Fun Cargo from a fuel queue at a filling station in Zvishavane and a Toyota Sprinter from a garage at Mawabeni Business Centre where it was being repaired.
The court heard that on the 9th of February Ronald Sibanda joined a fuel queue at Total Filling Station along Robert Mugabe Way in Zvishavane.
He left his white Toyota Fun Cargo in the queue unattended with the keys in the ignition. Shelton took advantage of the complainant’s absence and stole the motor vehicle and fled the scene.
He later sold the vehicle in Mawabeni Township. The matter was reported to the police who carried out investigations which led to Shelton’s arrest and recovery of the vehicle worth US$2 000.
The second charge regards a Toyota Sprinter which he stole from Mawabeni business centre. The matter was reported to the police resulting in Dube’s arrest and recovery of the vehicle which he had sold. The value of the vehicle is US$2 500.
He was convicted on his own plea of guilty to three counts of theft by Gwanda regional magistrate, Mrs. Sibonginkosi Mkandla who sentenced Dube to 10 years imprisonment, and three years were suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
