Residents effect citizen arrest on stock-thief

Martin Muleya
Chipinge Times Correspondent

MUTARE – People of Mutsago Village under Chief Marange effected a citizen arrest on a stock thief that then went on to be successfully convicted by the court.
Charles Murapa (21) of Mafurere Village, Chief Marange was convicted of stock theft by Mutare magistrate Langton Carter and slapped with an effective nine-year jail sentence when he appeared in court last week.
Murapa who appeared in court as a self actor did not waste the Court’s time as he pleaded guilty to the charge.
He was arrested by the villagers after he went around selling a beast that he had stolen. His luck ran out when at Mutsago Village where Tongesai Mupombwa asked for a Police clearance for the beast that he was selling. The villagers effected a citizen arrest when he failed to produce the requisite papers.
Loice Kadenha prosecuted.
It is the State case that on September 24, 2022 at Mafurere Village, Murapa took a brown ox belonging to Sarah Tasweranapo (71) with the intention of selling it.
The accused tied the ox with a rope and proceeded to Mutsago Village, Chief Marange where he met Mupombwa.
Villagers gathered effected a citizen arrest and surrendered Murapa to the Police.
“The accused told the Police where he had stolen the beast and the complainant positively identified it,” added Kadenha.