A suspected armed robber from Lupane is battling for life in hospital after being shot by police on the buttocks while fleeing a crime scene where he and four accomplices still at large, attempted to rob a bank.
Zenzo Siziba (44) is being closely guarded by police at St Luke’s Hospital where he is admitted, and from where he appeared before Lupane magistrate Barbara Phiri to answer to a charge of armed robbery under aggravating circumstances.
He was not asked to plead to the charge and was remanded to his hospital bed until 12 July.
The magistrate advised Siziba to approach the High Court for bail.
Siziba and his alleged four accomplices allegedly pounced on a security guard at Agribank in Lupane and threatened him with a gun while ordering him to leave the scene.
The suspects then used a hammer to break open the baking hall door upon which they blasted a money safe.
The five armed robbers, however, fled from the bank before taking any money after being busted by the police who opened fire and shot Siziba as he and his accomplices fled.
Prosecuting, Zandile Ndebele said Isaac Sibanda, who was on duty guarding the bank, heard the alarm system and, upon checking, saw the suspects near the door.
The suspects produced a gun and pointed it at Sibanda and ordered him to leave the scene and he ran away and later phoned the bank manager who alerted the police.
Suddenly there was an explosion in the bank.
Before the robbers could take any money, police arrived and fired three warning shots into the air.
The armed robbers fled from the bank and police shot Siziba and later arrested him.
From Siziba, police recovered a satchel with two computer hard drives, three used capped fuses, one dynamite, a screwdriver, a hammer and a shifting spanner.
The hard drives had been stolen from the bank.
There has been an increase in cases of armed robbery in the country amid concerns about access to guns by members of the public, with the suspicion that some are former police and army officers.
