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Sheillah Mapani Herald Reporter
A Harare man yesterday appeared in court for allegedly stealing motor vehicles he had hired from a car hire company in Hillside, Harare. Chamngona James (40) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Gedion Ruvetsa, facing theft charges . He was remanded in custody to November 22.Pprosecuting, Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that on August 26 this year, Chamngona hired a Toyota Corolla at Doc Car Hire.

The conditions were that he was supposed to return the motor vehicle on August 30 as he had hired it for four days. It is alleged that Chamngona extended the period of hire and was faithful with payments up to October 15, where he last paid for the hired motor vehicle. The court heard that on October 19, he also hired a Toyota Fortuner and was supposed to return it on October 21.

It is the State’s case that Chamngona then went with the two motor vehicles and did not return them to the owner. The matter was reported to the police and investigations were made, but Chimngona could not be found. On November 6, the police received a tip-off on Chamngona’s whereabouts and he was apprehended. Chamngona did not reveal where the cars were and the stolen motor vehicles are valued at $31 000.