By Patience Gondo
A 19-year-old man from Beitbridge has been sentenced to eight years in prison for armed robbery in Chief Matibe’s area earlier this year.
Regional Magistrates Charity Maphosa found Givers Mbedzi guilty of a violent attack on a local family in his midnight raid on June 2, 2025.
Prosecutor Willbrought Muleya said , Mbedzi and three accomplices, who are still at large, went to the victims’ homestead armed with a pistol, metal bars, and a garden pick around 12:20am.
The gang broke the door open using the garden pick before threatening the victim and his wife with death while demanding cash.
They assaulted the couple and stole ZAR10,000 and USD190.
The robbers then fired a shot into the ground to intimidate the victims further, demanding more money.
The gang later went to the victims’ son’s home nearby, broke the door, and assaulted him with a metal bar while demanding additional cash.
During the attack, Mbedzi reportedly called the victim by his nickname, leading to his identification since the two had previously played football together.
Following investigations, police arrested Mbedzi, while his three accomplices remain on the run.
The court sentenced him to eight years in jail, with four years suspended on condition of good behaviour.
He will serve an effective four-year prison term.
National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe said the conviction serves as a warning to would-be offenders, as the justice system continues to clamp down on violent crimes in the Beitbridge district.