ZB HEIST: JAILED MAN FREED

Mathew Masinge

THE High Court has set free a man jailed 10 years after he was convicted for participating in the 2021 ZB Bank US$2.7 million highway cash heist.

Tendai Zuze’s only connection to the robbery was through his mobile phone records and driving past the Nyabira tollgate shortly before the robbery.

However, upon his arrest Zuze lied about his whereabouts, had bought a Honda Fit two days after the robbery and was found in possession of US$35 000, leading to his conviction.

Zuze was jailed in September last year, together with the robbery mastermind Shadreck Njowa, who was a ZB Bank employee, and Never Mwamuka.

The cash-in-transit vehicle was intercepted near Nyabira on the Harare-Chirundu highway after the driver and his crew had stopped to relieve themselves a few metres from the tollgate.

Zuze lodged an appeal against his conviction before Justice Benjamin Chikowero and Happious Zhou who ruled that the trial court had convicted him based on circumstantial evidence.

“He may well have been involved, in some unknown way, in the commission of the offence.

“That could be the reason for his initial untruths. But that is all that can be said.

“It remains in the realm of suspicion and speculation. It is not evidence,” said the judges.

None of the State’s witnesses placed Zuze at the scene of the crime.

The judges also noted that the prosecution had actually exonerated Zuze but the trial magistrate misjudged its inference.

“The trial court grossly erred in predicating Zuze’s conviction on colourless circumstantial evidence while at the same time ignoring direct evidence, produced by the prosecution itself, which clearly exonerated him.

“It is true that Zuze lied that he did not have his phone on the day in question.

“He also lied in his defence outline when he asserted that he was at his residence in Harare on the day that the offence was committed in Nyabira.

“He explained that the US$35,000, recovered from him, US$10,000 belonged to his spouse.”

The judges allowed the appeal on grounds and acquitted Zuze.

“The appeal is allowed.

“The conviction is quashed and the sentence set aside. The following is substituted: ‘Accused two (2) is found Not Guilty and is Acquitted.’”