Landlord bashes thieving tenant

By Lisa Mangena

A 32 year old man from Bulawayo was severely assaulted by his landlord for stealing and selling property worth about RTGS $3000 and US$120 until he confessed to the crime.

Dumezweni Luphahla of Pumula South suburb stole the property late last month from his landlord Mr Morgan Mpofu.

He appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube facing a charge of unlawful entry and pleaded guilty.

Luphahla was remanded out of custody to May 20 as he was not feeling well.

He told the court that Mr Mpofu severely assaulted him and he could not stand trial.

“May l be given time to seek medical attention. Mr Mpofu severely assaulted me until l admitted that l had stolen his property and sold it,” Luphahla said.

The prosecutor, Mr Kenneth Shava, said on April 27, Luphahla broke into Mr Mpofu’s house.

“He took a grey deep freezer, a room divider, a double bed, a 42 inch plasma television set, a black DVD player, four kitchen chairs and a table, black speakers, three blankets, a 20-litre bucket, four pairs of trousers and went away,” he said.

Luphahla sold the property to different people.

The court heard that later during the day, Mr Mpofu received a phone call from Luphahla’s mother who told him that her son had stolen some of his property and wanted him to come home quickly.

Mr Mpofu rushed back home and found that most of his property was missing.

A police report was made leading to Luphahla’s arrest.

The total value of the property that was stolen is US$120 and RTGS$3 870.

A television set worth RTGS $2 530 was recovered from one of the people Luphahla had sold the stolen items to. The Chronicle