Student steals to please lover

A Masvingo Polytechnic student has been jailed for an effective five years after he stole a car and tried to sell it to raise money for the upkeep of his demanding lover who is studying at the same institution.

Darlington Sagia (21) was convicted on his own plea of guilty when he appeared before Masvingo regional magistrate Mrs Dambudzo Malunga facing theft charges last week.

Initially, Mrs Malunga had jailed him for seven years, but suspended two years for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Sagia had told the court in mitigation that he had stolen the car and wanted to sell it to raise money to satiate his ever-demanding girlfriend.

He said his girlfriend, whom he was staying with, was always pestering him for money to pay rentals and other household needs, yet he was still a student with no reliable source of income.

The State managed to prove that last month, Sagia and his alleged accomplice Justice Majamate, who is still at large, connived and stole a Toyota Fun-cargo from Passmore Manyere, a taxi driver they had hired in the city.

They hired Manyere to take them to Stop-Over business centre, about 10 kilometres from the city centre, and upon arrival convinced him they wanted be dropped a few metres from the place.

Upon arrival, they produced Okapi knives, demanded the car keys from Manyere before force-marching him to a nearby bush where they tied both his legs and hands using shoe-laces.

They drove the vehicle to Chilonga in Chiredzi where they were arrested before they could sell it to an unsuspecting villager.

Mr Liberty Hove prosecuted. The Herald