A 14-year-old juvenile delinquent shockingly managed to break into an armoury at a police station, stole two pistols and successfully managed to get away without attracting the attention of the police officers. Before making good his escape, the boy also stole several mobile phones, bank cards and a police identification card at the station.
He was later apprehended after he tried to pull off an armed robbery using one of the stolen pistols.
The Masvingo Mirror reports that the shocking events occured at Gweru Rural Police Station where the minor, whose identity cannot be revealed because of his age, had been detained on charges of unlawful entry.
After being taken into custody, the 14-year-old lied about his identity and gave the police officers a false name. This was discovered later after he talked to a probation officer.
According to the police, the boy was detained in the operations room where he was unsecured. On March 28, at around 6 AM, the young juvenile took advantage of the fact that he was not handcuffed and snuck into the records office.
Once in the records room, he made his way into the ceiling and crawled to the armoury. It is alleged that when he was over the armoury, he used a long wire to fish out a rifle and two pistols. He also used the wire to take a suit used by anti-riot personnel, a plastic bag with 26 live rounds and a green pouch for the 303 rifle.
However, he did not take everything with him as he did not want to attract attention. He took the two pistols and left everything else in the ceiling, hoping to come collect the stuff at a later day.
After taking the weapons he also stole a Samsung phone, an Itel phone, a handbag, a Police ID and bank cards. He then jumped from the ceiling and made his way out of the police station.
Later the same day, the juvenile broke into the house of one Gugulethu Mpofu who had already retired to bed. The minor pointed one of the pistols at Mpofu in an attempted robbery.
However, Mpofu disarmed him when he observed that the minor was poorly handling the weapon. Mpofu apprehended the minor and made a police report.
The delinquent appeared at Gweru Magistrates Court last week facing theft and armed robbery charges.
In his defence, the minor claimed that he had resorted to crime because his employer had not been paying him. He said that after failing to get his wages, he stole a bicycle from his employer in Lower Gwelo and made his way to Gweru.
He claimed that after dumping the bicycle, he started stealing to raise money for bus fare to take him back home.
He was remanded in custody.
