A SERIAL housebreaker, who terrorised Burnside residents two years ago, has blamed poverty for his actions which caused a number of families in the suburb to lose property worth thousands of dollars.
Mncedisi Ndlovu (23) is now domiciled at Bulawayo Prison, better known as Grey Prison, for unlawful entry and theft.
He gave a B-Metro news crew a highlight reel of his short-lived criminal career last week, as residents demanded to know the motive behind his ruthless actions.
He said, in retrospect, he had seen the error in his ways and was being rehabilitated at the prison.
“Before I came to prison I used to reside in Pumula South suburb, where I met this guy who was into housebreaking. Nobody knew about it because he operated from other suburbs.
“During that time I was not formally employed, and life was not easy for me as I am a family man with responsibilities.
“My situation later saw me joining this guy, and we started operating together in Burnside suburb as we believed the area had rich people who had expensive belongings that would fetch more on the market,” he said.
The inmate said the newly formed “tag team” specialised in stealing television sets and cell phones as the gadgets had a ready market, which made their lives easier as they could quickly dispose of evidence before the police could catch them.
“We got a lot of customers and our stuff literally flew off our hands. It was very difficult for anyone to find us with stolen property as we supplied as per order.
“We broke into a number of houses in Burnside without being caught or traced. The inflow of cash really improved our life style, so we continued to commit more crimes in the suburb, forgetting that one day we would be caught,” said Ndlovu.
He said the partnership ran out of luck when the owner of one of the houses they broke into, heard sounds coming from his sitting room, alerting him that someone was in the house.
That sound jolted him awake. He armed himself with a golf club and went to his sitting room to establish what was going on.
“I was in the process of unplugging a plasma television when my partner in crime knocked down an empty cup that had been left in the sitting room, probably by the owner of the house.
“I thought the homeowner was fast asleep and prayed that he did not hear the noise. Little did I know that everyone in the house was alert. They quickly woke up and armed themselves with an array of weapons,” he said.
The inmate said he was about to escape with the telly when something heavy collided with the back of his head.
He said he literally saw stars as the golf club hit him and he immediately passed out.
“The occupants of the house obviously knew its layout. They took advantage of the darkness as the lights were off, to quickly move into the room without being noticed.
I would like to believe that as I thudded to the ground, the sound alerted my partner who promptly escaped with two cell phones.
“Imagine the fear and the horror when I woke up in police custody. The cops demanded to know where my partner lived. They wanted to recover the two cell phones he had disappeared with,” said Ndlovu.
He said soon after the investigations, the police officers took the matter to court, where it was proved that he had broken into the house with the intention of stealing.
“Police officers tried to track my co-accused person, but it was too late, as he immediately relocated to another city. This left the court with no option but to convict me.
“It was proved that we had broken into a number of houses and I was sentenced to 7 years in imprisonment.
“This is my first time to be imprisoned. The first time I got here, life was not easy. I was stressed by the fact that my family looked up to me for survival. Right now I don’t even know how they are surviving under these harsh economic challenges,” he said.
Ndlovu said during his fourth month in prison, he decided to pursue carpentry as a profession.
He had discovered that crime does not pay and instead it causes problems to the inmate and their dependents.
“When I got to prison, I met a guy named Antony who is into carpentry. He dedicated his time to training me to be one of the best carpenters, and as we speak, I am now producing jewellery boxes and sculpturing.
“I know that this industry is going to help me move away from crime, as I don’t want to see my kids suffer because of my foolish actions,” he ended.
