A FORMER police commissioner has been arrested for kidnapping in Gweru.
According to police memo 105/24, Mekia Tanyanyiwa, who retired as a police commissioner in January 2018, was arrested as he was driving from Harare to Gweru to return the baby.
A police memo cited Sakhile Tanyanyiwa, a female aged 34 of Irvine, Gweru, a student at the Midlands State University, as the first accused person. Sakhile is the wife of Tanyanyiwa, who is now self-employed and is cited as the second accused.
The complainant was identified as Loreen Hungwe, a 31-year-old female of Woodlands, Gweru and the victim was identified as her two-month-old daughter, Benice Jasi.
Hungwe is said to have given birth to the baby on December 30, 2023, at Gweru Provincial Hospital but had not obtained her birth record.
Last Friday at around 11am, she went to Gweru Provincial Hospital with Jasi to obtain her birth record.
As she arrived at the hospital’s main gate, she met Sakhile, who was driving in a Toyota Aqua registration AFW 6208. Sakhile sought directions to the maternity ward.
Hungwe directed her before proceeding to obtain the birth record.
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She did not take long to be served and left the hospital after about 30 minutes.
Hungwe went back to the main road to get transport back to town, after which Sakhile emerged from the hospital and offered to drive her to town.
Hungwe agreed and got into the car, where she discovered that there were two other ladies, one seated in the front passenger’s seat and the other in the back.
Hungwe occupied the left side of the back seat.
The police memo stated that the women who was seated in the front passenger’s seat was holding what appeared to be a new-born baby wrapped in diapers.
Meanwhile, Sakhile told Hungwe that they wanted to pass through South View to drop her sister before they proceed to town.
In South View, Sakhile parked the vehicle at the gate of a house whose address is still to be established and they asked Hungwe to assist the woman in the front seat to disembark.
As Hungwe put her baby on the seat and got out to assist, Sakhile sped off towards the Gweru-Bulawayo Highway with Hungwe’s baby.
Hungwe screamed for help and a male adult managed to record the vehicle registration number, after which Hungwe rushed to Gweru Central Police Station to make a report.
The vehicle registration number was verified with the Central Vehicle Registry in Harare and it was established that the car was registered in the name of Glandina Nhamo of Southlea Park, Harare.
Nhamo told the police that she sold the car to Nobert Chiwara of Kuwadzana in Harare, who owns a car sale.
Chiwara told the police that he sold the vehicle to Tanyanyiwa on July 22, 2023.
When Tanyanyiwa was contacted, he told the police that he was on his way from Harare to Gweru along with the baby.
He got to Gweru a little after midday on Saturday and reported at CID Gweru.
At the police station, he implicated Sakhile, adding that she was the one who was in possession of the Toyota Aqua.
He further added that the vehicle was driven to Harare by an unknown female, who escaped into darkness after delivering it.
Hungwe was invited to CID Gweru, where she positively identified the baby, her bag with baby clothes and the child’s birth record.
The baby was taken to Gweru Provincial Hospital for medical examination and was found to be stable.
The Toyota Aqua was seized by the police under Notice of Seizure number 0097751 and is being held as an exhibit.
Checks were done with Gweru North tollgate, and it was established that the car passed through the tollgate headed for Kwekwe at 5:16pm on the day the crime was committed.
On Saturday at around 6pm, Sakhile was lured to CID Gweru, where she implicated her friend, one Soneni Nyoni, as the one whom she left with the vehicle in question with, while she went to Masvingo.
The accused were expected to appear in court yesterday.
