Botswana: Robber Spills the Beans
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The Voice (Francistown)
8 April 2008
Posted to the web 8 April 2008
Innocent Tshukudu
Francistown
A Zimbabwean suspect turned state witness this week blew the whistle on his partners in crime in last year's robbery of a Francistown City Centre store.
Thirty-one-year-old Bongani Ndlovu gave a blow by blow account to a Francistown magistrate's court of how he, together with his three accomplices, Arnold Manhope, 22, Nqhabutho Tshuma, 29, and a certain Kudzi, who is still at large, hatched a robbery plan in Zimbabwe before crossing to Botswana.
Ndlovu told how his three accomplices recruited him after meeting at a shopping centre in Bulawayo.
"Nqabutho told me that he knew where to find a gun for the robbery. Arnold later phoned me after the meeting and told me that the gun had been found and that the robbery was to be executed in Francistown."
Without a passport, Ndlovu crossed the border illegally and met up with the others at the Francistown Bus Rank where they checked out the targeted store, Lotus Trading Shop next to Cine 2000, that sells cellphones and accessories.
On the Saturday of the robbery, Ndlovu described how he entered the shop with Kudzi while Arnold and Nqabutho remained outside. "After making enquiries, I pretended that I was short of some money to buy a cell phone and I went outside the shop as if I was calling someone to help with the cash. The owner of the shop then chased Kudzi out as he was asking too many and confusing questions. He left the shop and stood at a different place so that the owners wouldn't notice we were together.
"The owner then started getting some of the items into the shop as he was about to close. When he was about to finish, I rushed back in with Arnold behind me. Nqabutho also rushed into the shop and he pushed the manager and removed the gun from a bag that I had been carrying.
"He told the manager and his assistants to sit down and he took a panga knife from the bag and gave it to me. I stood by the entrance so that no one could get out. Nqabutho then gave the gun to Arnold and he went over the counter and took cell phones that he loaded into our bag.
"We then ran off and jumped over the John Mackenzie School wall, but when we reached the other end we saw a mob approaching us and we threw away everything that we were carrying and ran off separately."
Unfortunately for Ndlovu, the mob caught up with him as he tried to escape.
"They beat me up and I passed out. When I woke up I was in a police vehicle. I was injured and my clothes were blood stained."
Manhope and Tshuma were arrested before leaving the town centre while Kudzi managed to escape and is still at large.
Relevant Links
The case continues.
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