RUTENDO CHIRUME
MASVINGO- A notorious cattle rustler from Buffalo Range, Chiredzi was recently convicted to 111 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of stealing 43 cattle.
Munashe Taruberekera(36) who was under trial at Chiredzi Magistrate Court since June last year was on January 31 2024 convicted by the Magistrate on 11 counts of cattle rustling from different homes in Chiredzi.
The Midweek Watch has learnt that there were seven complainants who made police reports last year, after losing their cattle to Taruberekera.
All of the complainants recovered their cattle.
On January 31 Taruberekera was convicted by a Chiredzi Magistrate. All the 43 cattle he had stolen were recovered from where they were being kept by different people.
Investigations are in progress to establish whether these people were his accomplices or not.
On June 28, Shepherd Chirove from Buffalo Range woke up in the morning and found his whole herd of 12 cattle missing in the kraal and made a police report.
Upon investigation the police gathered that Taruberekera was seen driving the cattle in the same area and so they trapped him and was arrested on July 19.
Upon his arrest and after being questioned by the police managed to recover other cattle which had been reported stolen from Tawonga Charamba with 9 cattle, Phenolos Chitsanga had 8 cattle and Cecilia Dadzo reported two cattle stolen.
Further investigations led to the discovery of 12 more cattle being kept by different people in and around Chiredzi district
The police then recovered a total of 43 cattle he had stolen.