A senior police officer broke a leg and an arm while fleeing fellow officers who had mistaken him for a thief after he had sneaked into the wrong house while looking for his girlfriend
The cop took to his heels after noticing his mistake as another woman who was in the house shouted: “Thief, thief!”
This is contained in a criminal appeal lodged by Inspector Hamashold Nyamunda at the Bulawayo High Court against his conviction and sentence for bringing the name of the police force into disrepute.
Insp Nyamunda who has since been restricted to office work and other light duties after he was injured after he fell while running away was fined $80 or in default of payment 30 days imprisonment by Gweru magistrate Miss Mildred Matuvi on September 20 last year.
He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted after a full trial.
The incident that saw the cop being charged occurred at Buchwa National Training centre where he had gone for training only to break the police-imposed curfew to look for a woman.
High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi has since upheld Insp Nyamunda’s appeal against both conviction and sentence. He said Insp Nyamunda should have been cautioned and discharged or given a wholly suspended sentence.
In his ruling, Justice Mathonsi said it would have been comical had the incident not brought far-reaching consequences on the cop’s limbs and career that spanned 20 years without blemish only to be tainted by a moment of madness while looking for a woman to be intimate with.