The ManicaPost
Chipo Katsidzira Weekender Correspondent
A 62-year-old Chipinge granny recently appeared in court on allegations of stealing 12 cattle from another villager.
Eunice Dziyani of Chichichi village under Chief Mutema appeared before Chipinge provincial magistrate Mr Poterai Gwezhira.
She pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded out of custody on $500 bail.
The case goes to trial tomorrow.
Dziyani, who was represented by Mr Tariro Tazvitya, denied the allegations saying the cattle belonged to her.
She said she lost them in 2009.
“They are my cattle. I didn’t steal the complainant’s cattle. They belong to me. I lost them in 2009 when they were still seven and recovered them in 2017 in the grazing area,” she said.
Public prosecutor Mr Gift Bikita told the court that sometime in July 2017, the complainant, Silas Matangi, from Samutsa village released his 12 cattle to a grazing area in the woods of Highlands Wattle Company and left them unattended.
After some days, he went to collect them, but he did not find them.
He then searched for the cattle in nearby villages, but could not find them and did not report the matter to the police since he suspected that they had strayed.
A month later, he saw them at Matute Business Centre and he sent his employee to collect them.
When his employee was driving off the cattle, he was confronted by Dziyani’s children who asked him where he was taking the cattle.
He advised them that they belonged to his employer.
Dziyani’s children went and told their mother about the issue.
She confronted Matangi demanding the cattle, arguing that they belonged to her and had lost them in 2009.
Matangi then reported the matter to the police, leading to Dziyani’s arrest.
