Sydney Mubaiwa
MIDLANDS BUREAU CHIEF

GWERU-Regional Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa has slapped a Shurugwi man with the mandatory 10 year jail term for stealing 100m of TelOne copper cables valued at US$6 720.
Nyasha Chiherenge (23) of Shariwa Village, Chief Nhema in Shurugwi was sentenced on Friday.

He was caught attempting to carry his loot on January 30, 2023 near Bata Shoe Company in Gweru.
Prosecutor Eggrina Matutu told the court that on the day around midnight, the complaint Artwell Manyudza, a risk and loss control officer at TelOne received a cable alarm signal from Ivene area opposite Bata Shoe Company Industry in Gweru.

Security guards manning the Bata area reacted to the alarm signal and discovered that the manhole had been opened with 100 meters of TelOne cables cut in it.
The guards then laid an ambush near the manhole. Chiherenge came back 40 minutes later with a wooden hook to take his loot and was arrested by the security guards.
The cables are worth US$6720 and all was recovered.