A police officer based at the Gweru Police Protection Unit (PPU) has admitted to stealing two mobile phones, one of which belonged to a friend.
Thulani Sibanda (24) appeared before Victoria Falls resident magistrate Gift Manyika on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.
He was remanded in custody and is expected back in court on Monday for sentencing.
Prosecutor Portia Moyo told the court that in the first case, Sibanda, who hails from Chinotimba in Victoria Falls, stole an Itel A70 handset belonging to a friend. She said:
Sibanda is a male adult residing at 11 New Township Zvishavane and is also employed as a police officer at Gweru PPU. Sibanda and the complainant are friends.
On 12 May 2025 and at around 7.10pm, Sibanda visited the complainant at his lodgings and was offered a chair and both the complainant and Sibanda sat outside the house but inside the yard.
They were listening to music that was being played from the complainant’s Itel cell phone. The complainant was then called into the house by his wife leaving Sibanda alone outside the house with the cell phone.
Moyo told the court that after briefly stepping away, the complainant returned to find that Sibanda had already left, along with his mobile phone.
Suspicious, the friend decided to call his own number, and to his surprise, Sibanda answered. When confronted, Sibanda claimed he had taken the phone by mistake and promised to return it the following day. Said Moyo:
The complainant tried to locate Sibanda to no avail and by that time, he had removed the complainant’s sim card and was no longer reachable.
A report was made to the police leading to the recovery of the phone from one Mr Nyasha Samsun who then alleged that he had bought the stolen cell phone from Sibanda.
The value of the stolen cell phone is USD$ 270-00 and all was recovered.
On the second count, Moyo told the court that two days later, on 14 May, at Moringa Shopping Centre in Victoria Falls, Sibanda unlawfully took a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone belonging to a local shopkeeper. Said Moyo:
The complainant in this case is employed as a shopkeeper at Moringa shopping Centre and is not related to Sibanda.
On 14 May at around 6.45 PM at Moringa Shopping Centre Sibanda approached the shop were the complainant worked as a shopkeeper.
Sibanda purported to be a customer waiting for his turn to be served and as the complainant was busy attending to other customers, Sibanda managed to grab the complainant’s cell phone and went away unnoticed. The complainant tried to locate the cell phone but to no avail.
She said that on 15 May, Sibanda was arrested in connection with a separate theft case, and during a search, officers discovered he was in possession of the shopkeeper’s stolen Samsung Galaxy. The phone is valued at around US$200.
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