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Tendai Rupapa Senior Court Reporter
In a new twist, the Form Four pupil who hired a taxi before stealing the vehicle after the driver disembarked to look for change wept uncontrollably in court saying he had lied that he was a Churchill Boys High pupil when in fact his school is Rusike Secondary School in Goromonzi.

The 19-year-old Shepherd Kapita, who is in custody awaiting his sentence, pleaded for the court’s lenience adding that he did not want his mother to know about the case since she has a heart problem.

“I am sorry, Your Worship for lying. Please do not tell my mother about this. She might die of shock since she has heart problems. That is the reason why I gave false information to the court because I did not want this to get to my mother,” he said while wiping his tears.

He later furnished the court with another address in Mabvuku where he said his aunt stays.

The prosecutor Ms Dorah Moyo told the court that she was sending the investigating officer to that house to verify if they knew him.

Upon hearing this, Kapita started crying again and pleaded that if the investigating officer was to go to her aunt, he must tell her not to mention anything to his mother.

The investigating officer later told the court that he had seen Kapita’s aunt, Dorothy Gumbo, who confirmed that Kapita was her sister’s son and doing Form Four at Rusike Secondary.

The aunt also told the officer that Kapita’s mother was looking for him since she was not aware of his whereabouts.

The magistrate, Ms Bianca Makwande, advised the State to verify with Rusike School if indeed Kapita was a pupil there before she passed the sentence.

Kapita pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle when he appeared in court last week.

When asked by the magistrate why he committed the offence, Kapita said he had been sent by his mother to Zambia and used all the money on beer and women, hence he was afraid to go back home. He said he decided to steal a vehicle so that he would use it as a taxi and raise the $300 which he had used.

On January 3, Privillege Musekiwa was approached by Kapita who hired him on the pretext he wanted to see his girlfriend in the Avenues area.

On arrival at the said block of flats, Kapita disembarked and told Musekiwa to wait for him while he went upstairs.

He came back after some few minutes and ordered Musekiwa to proceed to Fife Avenue Shopping Centre, saying he wanted to buy food so that he could get some change.

Kapita gave Musekiwa $10 and told him to go and buy him a drink and get his fare which was $3.

Musekiwa left Kapita in the vehicle and went into OK Supermarket.

When he returned, his vehicle was nowhere to be seen.