Yesterday, a tout who admitted responsibility to the crime and was part of the infamous $720,000 Quest Financial Services heist was given a 12-year prison sentence.
Kuwanza (28) was obviously indifferent to the sentence as regional magistrate Estere Chivasa delivered it.
On February 23, Daniel Mandizvidza, Head of Operations at Quest Financial Services, made sure that all doors were secured before leaving his job, according to testimony given in court. After leaving valuables in a vault, including US$720,676, R10,500, 120 Euros, and other items, he assigned private security guard Lancelot Tashayawedu to watch over the property overnight.
Kuwanza and his associates, some of whom were in court and some of whom were still at large, plotted the heist and prepared a variety of weapons about one in the morning of the following day. They threatened to harm the guard if he resisted as they attacked him while he slept in one of the quarters at the back of the main building.
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Using an electric cord, the bandits bound the guard’s wrists and legs as well as the torso of his fiancée. The other gang members went to the main office building while one kept watch over them. They broke through a window and in with the help of an iron rod.
After entering, they detonated the vault using detonators to take R10,500, 120 Euros, US$720,676, and a 7.65mm CZ Vzor pistol.
When police arrived on the site, they looked over the CCTV tape. Three of Kuwanza’s accomplices—Washington Mangwanda, Brighton Chikukwa, and Silence Matambo—from the Mbare region were identified by one detective during the examination.
Following the start of a manhunt, Mangwanda was apprehended in Ardbennie and had $21,000 taken from him.
While the police try to apprehend everyone connected to the heist, they are still searching for the other suspects.
