A daring man who pounced on Lions Den Tollgate in Chinhoyi and attempted to get away with motorists hard earned levies failed to gain access into the strong room where cash is stored but managed to flee with a ZRP officer’s firearm, police said.
Constable Auxillia Chimatira, 34, who lost her firearm to the yet to be indentified man during a scuffle told investigating officers that she wrestled with the assailant who demanded keys to the strong room.
Chimatira insisted that the accused was not given the keys and cash and he eventually disappeared into the darkness with the rifle.
“On 30 May 2019 at around 0440 hours, informant (Chimatira) was in the caravan which houses the strong room for safe keeping of cash. She was armed with a ZRP AK 47 rifle number 1093 serial number ZW130066125630 with a magazine of 30 live rounds,” reads the police memo gleaned by Zim Morning Post.
“She was in the company of Vincent Zizi aged 40 years of Chinhoyi who is employed by ZINARA as a Tollgate Supervisor. Misheck Makaza aged 37 of Chinhoyi employed by ZINARA as a cashier at the same Tollgate was in the back office of the caravan.”
Police said the other two cashiers Tatenda Mabwe aged 26 and Ishumael Tewe, 35, were in the cubicles serving motorists.
“An unknown accused person who was putting on a white woolen face mask burst into the caravan and kicked the unsuspecting informant who fell in the process but remained in control of her firearm,” reads part of the memo.
“The accused person managed to grab the butt of the rifle and wrestled with the informant resulting in the rifle firing one round which hit the western wall of the caravan before ricocheting to the back office door where it rested.”
It further reads: “During the scuffle between the accused person and the informant Vincent Zizi took cover under the table.”
“The accused person eventually took control of the rifle from the informant before demanding for strong room keys and cash. The accused was not given the keys and cash and he eventually disappeared into the darkness with the rifle.”
Chimatira is said to have alerted other members on duty before a report was made at ZRP Murereka under RRB number 3735907.
Investigations carried out by CID Chinhoyi, Canine Chinhoyi, Support Unit and ZRP Murereka detailed that the general scene is characterised by grassy area and thorny bushes and there is a Ministry of Transport compound about 100metres on the eastern side of the Tollgate.
Police said the value of the AK rifle is $1500-00 and the 29 rounds are valued at $130-50 giving us a combined value of $1630-50. Nothing was recovered.