FORM III PUPIL AMONG SUSPECTS FOUND WITH MONEY SAFE

SITEKI – An 18-year-old Form III pupil is among the three people who have been charged with the theft of a money safe with cash, cellphones and sim cards to the value of E98 933.10.

*Ncedo is a pupil at Lusoti High School. Yesterday, Ncedo from Nsulutane area under Malindza Umphakatsi, under Chief Ndlondlo Tsabedze, appeared before Magistrate Cebsile Ngwenya at the Siteki Magistrates Court, together with her co-accused; Mlungisi Sibusiso Dlamini (24) and Nolwazi Pinky Shongwe (20), both from Nsulutane area. The trio has been charged with the offence of housebreaking with the intent to steal and theft in that about or on August 21, 2022 at Mpaka complex in the Lubombo Region, the said accused persons either one or all of them acting jointly in the furtherance of a common purpose did unlawfully and with intent to steal, break and enter into a shop (MTN) and stole items valued at E98 933.10, the property of or in the lawful possession of one Dumisane Gadlela.

The safe had cash amounting to E58 364.10 when it was opened by the police at the Siteki Police Station. Other items found inside the safe were cellphones, routers, memory cards and sim cards. Representing the accused persons was Sive Ngobe from S.W Ngobe Attorneys, who was instructed by Maxwell Nkhambule from Nkambule Attorneys, while Zanele Mabila stood for the Crown. The crown moved an application that the Honda Fit sedan remain detained at the police station together with the cash found inside the safe and the other items.
A bail application moved by the defence was not opposed. The defence moved the bail application on the basis that one of the accused persons was a pupil and was missing lessons as she was about to sit for her external examinations and urged the court to fix bail at E500 as all accused persons were unemployed.

However, Magistrate Ngwenya granted bail fixed at E1 000 each and warned the accused persons not to interfere with witnesses and to avail themselves on September 9, 2022 for the setting of a trial date. The incident involving the trio happened on Sunday morning, where a soldier and a young woman died tragically after police opened fire at the car they were travelling in at Mpaka. Dumisani Tsabedze (37), the soldier, died while being attended to by nurses at the Good  Shepherd  Catholic Hospital (GSCH) Out-Patient Department (OPD), while Thandekile Kunene (22) succumbed to the gunshot wound at the scene of the incident. Both deceased hailed from Nsulutane.

According to the soldier’s brother, Musa, who was found at the hospital on Sunday after the shooting, his bother left together with his companions at around 4am to buy alcoholic beverages when they found the money safe in the middle of the road, a few metres from the Mpaka Shopping Centre. Dumisani sustained a gunshot wound on the abdomen as the bullet hit him at the back. Nurses at the OPD said the soldier died while being attended to. Musa said there were six occupants when they left on board a Honda seven-seater sedan while enjoying alcoholic beverages. He alleged that after seeing the safe which had been abandoned in the middle of the road at an area called Kalamgwambhi, they alighted from the car and loaded it into their vehicle. While doing so, the police are said to have arrived and opened fire.One of the occupants of the Honda sedan has been transferred to the Mbabane Government Hospital for further treatment.

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