Images: Sunday News

Cattle rustlers in Banket, Mashonaland West last night stole 21 cattle at Batch Farm & slaughtered 9.

They were disturbed by members of the community while slaughtering and upon realising that they had been caught red-handed, they fled leaving the meat & the remainder of the cattle.

Stock theft has been a cause for concern in the country.

In January this year, 52 cases of stock theft comprising 93 cattle were recorded in the Mashonaland East province, leading to 17 arrests.

Stock theft is a serious offence in Zimbabwe, and where a person is convicted of stock theft in contravention of s 114 of the Criminal Law [Codification and Reform] Act, [Cap 9: 23], and there are no special circumstances, the court has no choice but to impose nothing less than the minimum mandatory penalty of nine years’ imprisonment.

Zwnews