For lying to the police that he had been robbed of a laptop, cell phone, and US$200 cash, Allan Nyamuzihwa, a Zimbabwean student studying in Namibia has been jailed for six months.
Last Sunday, Nyamuzihwa was travelling from Namibia where he is a first-year engineering student, and when he reached Victoria Falls, he hatched a plan and claimed he had lost personal property to robbers.
However, investigations by the police revealed Nyamuzihwa had actually lied after having sold the gadgets while intending to invite sympathy from his parents back home.
He admitted to lying when he appeared in court, leading to resident magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa imposing a six-month jail term on him.
The engineering student was, however, lucky not to taste life behind bars as the magistrate suspended the whole prison term on condition of good behaviour.
In his defence, Nyamuzihwa of Lendy Park in Marondera claimed that when the bus he was travelling in reached Victoria Falls, he went to a toilet to relieve himself and upon return, discovered the bus had left.
He said he had no money to connect to Marondera hence he decided to sell his gadgets.
However, for reasons best known to him, Nyamuzihwa went on to file a robbery report to the police.
He told the court he thought he would get police warrant allowing him to travel home free of charge and also to use the report to convince his parents that he had lost the gadgets to robbers.
He pleaded guilty to deliberately supplying false information to an authority.
Prosecutor Audrey Mukanganya said Nyamuzihwa hatched the plan last Sunday when he reported the matter to the police.
