Police unhappy as magistrate considers bail notori...

Police unhappy as magistrate considers bail notorious criminal and accomplices

Gilbert Munetsi

Differences between police and the courts have surfaced in Chitungwiza around the arrest of a notorious robber and his two accomplices who had terrorised residents and were nabbed after a special operation to fish them out.

St Mary's police descended on a hideout for Tawanda Gwanyamwanya Mapuranga (alias Mbare), 39, in the early hours of Monday morning following a compilation of more than 12 dockets for crimes he allegedly committed around the town.

At the time of his arrest, "Mbare" and the two accomplices had more pending cases in court for which a warrant of arrest had since been issued after they absconded.

Pertaining to the fresh charges, a number of complainants have since come through while several stolen items were recovered.

But it is the decision of the courts to summon the accused three, who appeared at Chitungwiza Magistrates' Courts today, to return to court tomorrow for what the magistrate said was bail determination that has irked police.

The decision has not gone down well with the investigating officers who had submitted a 242 Form, requesting for ample time for further investigations and opportunity to locate more complainants.

Even the dockets for the three accused are still with the police pending finalisation and sources who spoke on condition of anonymity queried the magistrate's decision given the circumstances.

"The law demands that once police have submitted the 242 Form, the accused is automatically remanded in custody for a period not exceeding 14 days during which time police will be continuing with investigations.

"Secondly, there are no dockets yet before the courts because we are still working on them. How then does the court expect to determine bail status when there are no sufficient documents to enable that to happen?

“It is a known fact that the accused terrorised residents who have lived in fear for a very long time.”

A police officer who spoke off the record as he is not authorised to speak to the media said it is disheartening too see such an attitude from the judiciary when violent crimes are on the rise.

"As custodians of the law, we took it upon ourselves to hunt criminals down with the hope they would be brought to book, but the decision by the court is extremely demoralising to our efforts," the cop said.

Mapuranga and his two accomplices, Calvin Mariyani, 38, and Pelagia Ndumbu,19, currently face six counts of robbery as defined in Section 126(1)(a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23.

It is the State's case that on November 22, 2022, all three impersonated police officers and ordered a complainant to comply with their instructions.

Mapuranga threatened to assault the complainant before taking his Itel cellphone and US$80. He further threatened him with unspecified action if he dared report the matter.

In Count 2, the accused approached the complainant, produced a knife and threatened to stab him if he did not hand over an amplifier. Complainant complied and the gadget has since been recovered.

The other charges, while of a similar nature, involved theft of cellphones and money among other things.
The State argues all three accused were positively identified, were spotted by whistleblowers carrying the stolen property and the accused led police to the stolen property.

Grounds for opposing bail are that the trio have known records of previous conviction and pending cases at court for which they failed to oblige with bail conditions.

"All of them are of no fixed aboard and though accused 1 and 3 used their parents' addresses, they have had peace orders issued against them. If granted bail, they can interfere with witnesses who end up fearing to testify. Accused 1, in particular, does not fear crime and doesn't value human life. Furthermore, investigations are still at infant stage and there is need to identify more victims," the State submitted in a futile attempt to keep the trio away from society.