FOR vandalising his father’s house and car in a raging domestic dispute, a 21-year-old Chinhoyi man will spend the next three years behind bars.
Knowledge Jani of Shackleton Mine was convicted by the Chinhoyi Magistrates Court for malicious injury to property in a case which arose from an incident on April 22 this year at the father’s homestead.
The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ), in a post on X, said Jani confronted his father and stepmother on the fateful day and accused them of being behind his illness.
He destroyed his father’s Nissan Sunny vehicle and drained some fuel from the vehicle, which he used to set the house and vehicle on fire resulting in the destruction of US$14 000 worth of property.
Jani was sentenced to four years imprisonment, but the court conditionally suspended one year of the jail term for five years, leaving him to serve an effective three years in jail. Separately, the NPAZ said the Chinhoyi Magistrates Court sentenced two burglars from Darwendale, Saimon Mbewe (34) and Lavender Mabhusa (42), to an effective 15 and 12 months imprisonment each respectively.
The case against Mbewe and Mabhusa of Mbebvi Farm arose from an incident between July 16 and 20 this year when they took advantage of the complainant, Serena Manyenge’s absence and broke into her house.
After gaining entry by breaking the padlock using an unknown object, the two stole an assortment of groceries and household property. They sold some of the stolen property the following day.
Mbewe and Mabhusa were arrested on July 23 and some of the stolen property was recovered from people that had bought it following tip-offs to the police. The total value of goods stolen is US$3 168, and property worth US$880 was recovered.
Mbewe and Mabhusa were sentenced to 24 months imprisonment of which six months were conditionally suspended for five years. A further six months were suspended on condition of restitution but Mbewe had a three months sentence suspended from a previous sentence brought into effect. — New Ziana
