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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
A 23-year-old armed robber has been jailed for 14 years after he teamed up with two accomplices to rob taxi drivers using a pellet gun. Lee Roy Muleya is said to have partnered Pathutshedzo Emma Nguluvhe (25) and Fanuel Bako to unleash a reign of terror on taxi drivers.

Muleya was convicted on his own plea of guilty to three charges of armed robbery when he appeared before Western Division regional magistrate Mr Tranos Utawashe during a circuit court on Saturday.

Nguluvhe, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was remanded in custody to August 5 for trial while Bako is still on the run.

Muleya was left with an effective 14 years to serve when Mr Utawashe conditionally suspended four years of his 18-year jail term for five years.

He had initially slapped him with six months’ imprisonment for each count.

Prosecuting, Mr Penson Chekeya told the court that on June 23, the trio, armed with a Macoy pellet pistol, hired one Naison Mubaiwa, who is taxi driver, and directed him to a lodge along Bulawayo Road.

He said along the way, they robbed him of $18 at gunpoint and disappeared.

Mr Chekeya said the trio hired Shingirayi Magorimbo again and requested his phone number on the understanding that he would pick them later from a local hotel.

The court further heard that later that day, the trio called Magorimbo from one of their cellphones.

Mr Chekeya said the complainant went to pick up the trio as per the prior arrangement in the company of his wife.

They then told him to leave his wife at the hotel and robbed him of his car, $20, R120 and two mobile phones at gunpoint as soon as they left the hotel.

He said the trio drove the car to Lutumba Business Centre where they dumped it.

Mr Chekeya said the accused persons also used the same modus operandi on July 6 when they pounced on Shepherd Zira and stole R35 before driving away in his Toyota Raum.

They later dumped the car along Masvingo Road.

All the cases were reported to the police leading to the arrest of Muleya and Nguluvhe when police detectives tracked them through the phone they had used to call Magorimbo.

The pistol was recovered from Muleya’s house in Dulibadzimu suburb.