Two men linked to a five-month armed robbery spree in Beitbridge have each been jailed for an effective 28 years, with a magistrate ordering them to repay victims as a condition of suspending part of their sentences. The attacks included raids on a fuel station and lodges, where workers and guests were threatened with pistols and a machete and robbed of cash, phones and other property.
Tapiwa Trymore Moyo, 39, and Philip Bernard Dambwara, 34, were each handed a 36-year prison term, with 8 years suspended on condition that they pay restitution to their victims. They were convicted on 9 counts of robbery following a full trial before Beitbridge Regional Magistrate Charity Maphosa.
The restitution order totals US$1,759. With the 8-year portion suspended, each man will serve 28 years in prison. If they serve the full effective terms, Moyo would be 67 and Dambwara 62 when released.
The 9 convictions form part of a wider five-month case involving a string of robberies and an attempted robbery from April into September. Prosecutors described attacks on service stations, lodges, a church, a bar and private homes. By the time the wider case came before the court, 6 accused faced a combined 20 robbery counts and one attempted robbery count. The sentences imposed on Moyo and Dambwara concern their 9 robbery convictions.
The attacks covered by the convictions took place between April 16 and May 20, 2026. The pair used pistols, a machete and pepper spray to intimidate people at workplaces and accommodation businesses, taking cash, phones and other property.
The first of the convicted attacks took place at about 8.50pm on April 16 at Redan Petroleum Service Station. Moyo and Dambwara robbed two people there, taking cash, a ZTE mobile phone, an HP laptop and a Samsung Galaxy A205. The service station was among several ordinary public-facing businesses caught up in the robbery series.
Five days later, at about 4am on April 21, the pair went to Mother’s Lodge. They sprayed the manager with pepper spray, took cash and an iPhone 13, then locked him in the reception area. A security guard was forced into the reception at gunpoint and robbed of a Huawei phone.
The attacks continued at Cossy Lodge in the early hours of May 20. The men arrived at about 2.45am and robbed 5 people of cash and mobile phones before locking victims in the reception area. The phones included a Samsung A53, an iPhone 13, a Huawei Honor 9C and a Samsung S22 Ultra.
The weapons and the way the victims were controlled made the robberies especially frightening for staff and guests, who were confronted while at work or staying overnight. At the service station, workers were threatened; at Mother’s Lodge, the manager was sprayed and confined; at Cossy Lodge, victims were held at the reception after being robbed.
Moyo and Dambwara were arrested in Beitbridge on September 27 after detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department acted on information about their whereabouts. The sentencing account said police recovered a pistol from Moyo and another pistol and a machete from Dambwara. The firearms were sent for ballistic examination, and complainants identified the men during identification parades.
Police have also linked Moyo and Dambwara to a wider investigation spanning 2026. A police update named them among 6 suspects connected to at least 14 robbery cases said to have taken place between March and September. The other men named in that investigation were Clatton Dube, Nyasha Muparira, Jameson Chikozho and Stanley Shumba.
Police said the wider investigation covered attacks on service stations, lodges, homes, businesses, a medical facility and churchgoers, not only the 9 counts on which Moyo and Dambwara were convicted. Investigators also linked the group to reported cases in Masvingo, Mwenezi and Gutu, as well as Harare’s Kuwadzana, Snake Park and White House areas, Gweru and Murambinda.
One of the incidents described in that broader inquiry took place at ZAOGA Church in Mashavire on April 25, while congregants were attending a service. Armed men allegedly ordered worshippers to lie down and took cash, mobile phones and a laptop from 3 people. A church attack had also been raised in the court proceedings involving the pair, but the sentencing details identify the service-station and lodge robberies among the convictions.
In a separate case in Masvingo, police said suspects posed as customers seeking foreign currency and lured a trader to an isolated place, where he was robbed of R55,000 and a mobile phone. The reported locations across the country formed part of the police investigation into the wider set of robberies, rather than the specific Beitbridge convictions announced in the sentence.
Detectives said the arrests followed information that further robberies were being planned in Beitbridge. Police reported recovering stolen property and weapons during the investigation. CID spokesperson Detective Inspector Rachel Muteweri credited members of the public for helping officers, saying: “The Zimbabwe Republic Police commends members of the public for their concerted efforts in the fight against crime.”
The court’s restitution order directs money back to complainants alongside the prison terms. The 8 suspended years for each man are conditional on payment of the total US$1,759, while the remaining 28 years are to be served in prison.
The case centred on repeated attacks on places where people worked, slept or gathered. At Redan Petroleum, the targets were workers on duty. At the lodges, managers, guards and guests were confronted during the night. The convictions bring the Beitbridge series covered in the trial to a close with both men facing long custodial sentences, while police have described a broader inquiry involving additional suspects and offences in other towns.