Binga funeral thief, and Noah rider, were busted for phones

Courts in Binga and Tsholotsho just slapped two men with community service after they got busted for swiping mobile phones.

Family member steals phone during funeral service

• Field Nkiwane thought a funeral was a good time to snag a mobile device worth US$150 from his own brother-in-law.
• The 63-year-old thief got ratted out to the police once the victim realized his relative was trying to get the device flushed.
• A judge suspended the entire jail sentence as long as the older man puts in 210 hours of work for the community.

Transport operator catches thief at repair shop

• Philip Mudenda hitched a ride in a Toyota Noah only to walk off with the blue Itel A58 belonging to the driver.
• The victim basically went full detective by warning every technician in the Binga business district to look for the stolen gear.
• Police caught the 29-year-old suspect red-handed while he was trying to wipe the data at a local shop in the Chilila area.

Magistrates deliver sentences for mobile thefts

• The Binga Magistrates Court handed down a 13-month term but let the thief off with 6 months of labor instead.
• Both criminals avoided actual prison time by agreeing to work off their crimes through hundreds of hours of service.
• Recovery of the hardware happened in both cases because the victims acted fast and alerted the authorities before the phones vanished.