Two of the three armed robbers who were shot dead by a Lawyer during a robbery in Chadcombe, Harare, on Monday night were serving members of the Zimbabwe National Army, it has emerged.
Joseph Nemaisa, a 19-year Criminal Investigations Department (CID and a Lawyer) homicide veteran, gunned down the three robbers at his home after they had taken his family hostage.
One of the deceased robbers was an on-duty soldier from the ZNA’s elite commando regiment, NewZimbabwe.com reported.
The commando regiment is one of the special forces units in the ZNA that conducts critical operations.
NewZimbabwe.com reported multiple military and official sources as saying the 21-year-old officer, identified as Tariro Gora, comes from Sanyati.
Gora was supposed to be at his workstation at the One Commando Barracks along Airport Road (Joshua Nqabuko Nkomo Road) in Harare, at the time of the robbery.
The AK-47 rifle that was used by the robbers belongs to the ZNA which Gora was using in his official duties on the night he was killed. Said a source:
He was a member of the ZNA serving in the commando regiment. He was actually supposed to be on duty that night and bosses are wondering how he made his way out with that gun.
The AK47 is not your ordinary gun which can be owned by anyone. It’s a preserve for the army.
It is also believed that the two others who survived the shooting and escaped are soldiers and they are being hunted down.
According to ZimLive, the other two suspects shot dead by Nemaisa have been identified as Charles Chirara and Brian Koga (39).
Chirara was one of over 10 suspects in the US$2.7 million ZB bank cash-in-transit heist in January and had been released on bail by the High Court.
Meanwhile, Tendere was once jailed for 12 years for armed robbery and attempted murder.
Police have since launched a manhunt for the two robbers who escaped. One of the suspects has been identified as Tatenda Mumbire.
Nemaisa, now a lawyer, said he left home at about 6 PM and was in Chisipite at around 8.30 PM when his son, Courage, called him to say there were people trying to break into the house.
Nemaisa’s wife Fadzanai had just arrived home and observed three men walking near their house.
He raced home and took on the intruders in a gunfight that ended with three of the raiders lying dead in pools of blood. Nemaisa said:
They were in my bedroom, holding my family hostage and one of them had switched on the iron trying to torture my wife so that she would disclose where we keep the money. Others were searching the bedroom.
I saw one of the robbers armed with an AK47 through the window and shot him once in the chest.
He tried to crawl away while shouting for help and then two others came into view and I shot both of them through the window.
… If they knew it was me living here, I don’t think they would have come to raid this place.
The two robbers that escaped allegedly stole US$850, a laptop, a mobile phone, and a shotgun.
