A vigilant member of the Bulawayo neighbourhood watch committee was assaulted with an axe handle by suspected cattle rustlers, but one of the perpetrators was arrested on Monday.
As reported by CITE, police officers in Bulawayo arrested 43-year-old Bhekilizwe Nyathi from the Nkulumane suburb after he and his alleged accomplice were caught red-handed with five slaughtered, stolen cattle.
The neighbourhood watch member spotted the two suspects in a parked vehicle, which contained the cattle carcasses.
When the watchman approached the duo and inquired about their destination with the slaughtered animals, Nyathi allegedly became evasive.
After a failed attempt to bribe the watchman, Nyathi is said to have struck him in the mouth with an axe handle, causing injuries.
The spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Inspector Abednico Ncube, confirmed the incident and the arrest of the suspect. Said Insp. Ncube:
Nyathi then jumped into the vehicle and drove off, but the neighbourhood watch member managed to jump into the back of the van, from where he called for police assistance.
Nyathi and his accomplice drove for a while until their vehicle ran out of fuel. They abandoned the car and tried to flee, but the police and members of the public outpaced them.
Officers from Nkulumane police station attended the scene and noticed that the cattle had the Hope Fountain brand. The matter was then transferred to Hillside police station for further investigation.
As the police, we applaud the bravery shown by the neighbourhood watch member. Here in Bulawayo and surrounding areas, we are very strict on such offences.
We have declared that Bulawayo will not be a market for stolen cattle. We are very grateful to the vigilant neighbourhood watch member who risked his life to ensure the arrest of the accused.
The stolen cattle belonged to 61-year-old Zenzo Luphahla of Hope Fountain, who revealed that the animals were stolen on Sunday after his herdsman left them grazing.
Luphahla said stock theft is a persistent problem in their area, and over the years, he has lost nearly 40 head of cattle to thieves. He said:
I warned my herdboy that it was dangerous to leave the cattle unattended in the pastures because of the high incidence of thefts we have been recording. As fate would have it, later that day when he brought them back home, some were missing.
I later saw in a WhatsApp group that some cattle had been recovered in Bulawayo, but I never thought they could be mine.
A friend of mine later called and told me that they were my cattle after recognising the brand mark.
It is quite heartbreaking to lose five cattle at the same time, especially to thieves. But I am glad to have discovered what happened to them, rather than hoping they would return home at some point.
I am also grateful to the man who initiated the citizen’s arrest of the accused. We need more such brave men, and we hope to continue working well with the police to bring stock theft to an end.
Last week, thieves targeted a farm in Banket, Mashonaland West Province, stealing 21 cattle from Plot 21, Batch Farm.
According to the police, 12 of the stolen cattle were recovered at a neighbouring farm, while the remaining 9 were found deboned at the crime scene.
In connection with the theft, a 32-year-old man, Sauro Mudzimiri, was arrested. At the crime scene, the police recovered 37 knives, heaps of steak meat, and 50 kg of empty bags, further corroborating the suspects’ involvement in the incident.
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