Bank suspects back in court

FOUR Zimbabwean nationals accused of carrying out the first of a string of four alleged armed robberies in which branches of Standard Bank Namibia have been targeted over the past three months made their first joint appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

With Bakani Dube (39), Itai Mashamba (31), Mthulishi Sibanda (26) and Plan Ndebele (31) together in the dock before Magistrate Helvi Shilemba for the first time, proceedings before the Magistrate were brief. Public Prosecutor Nuncia Sikongo asked for a postponement so that the case could be investigated further, and the Magistrate postponed the matter as requested to September 4.All four suspects, whose home addresses are all stated on their case record as being in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, remain in Police custody in the meantime.They were accompanied to court by a group of well-armed Police officers.The four charged men face a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with an alleged armed robbery in which some N$197 000 is claimed to have been stolen from the Klein Windhoek Branch of Standard Bank Namibia on March 9.Dube was the first of the suspects to be arrested.He was taken into custody on March 19.The other three were arrested the day after an early-morning alleged robbery at Standard Bank Namibia’s Gobabis branch on May 22.It is alleged that N$202 066 was stolen during the heist at the Gobabis bank.Of this money, about N$174 167 is claimed to have been recovered with the arrest of the six suspects who have been charged over the Gobabis incident.Mashamba, Sibanda and Ndebele are also facing a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances in the Gobabis Magistrate’s Court in connection with that alleged heist.Public Prosecutor Nuncia Sikongo asked for a postponement so that the case could be investigated further, and the Magistrate postponed the matter as requested to September 4. All four suspects, whose home addresses are all stated on their case record as being in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, remain in Police custody in the meantime.They were accompanied to court by a group of well-armed Police officers.The four charged men face a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with an alleged armed robbery in which some N$197 000 is claimed to have been stolen from the Klein Windhoek Branch of Standard Bank Namibia on March 9.Dube was the first of the suspects to be arrested.He was taken into custody on March 19.The other three were arrested the day after an early-morning alleged robbery at Standard Bank Namibia’s Gobabis branch on May 22.It is alleged that N$202 066 was stolen during the heist at the Gobabis bank.Of this money, about N$174 167 is claimed to have been recovered with the arrest of the six suspects who have been charged over the Gobabis incident.Mashamba, Sibanda and Ndebele are also facing a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances in the Gobabis Magistrate’s Court in connection with that alleged heist.