A Zimbabwean man, Joseph Chirunga, 43, has been charged to court for driving away from a fuel station without paying, after filling a container he was carrying with 1,000 litres of diesel.
Prosecutor Linda Gadzikwa alleged that on July 9 around 4pm, Chirunga approached Siyakurima, an attendant who was on duty at the service station in Mablereign and hatched a plan to steal from him, reports iHarare.
According to reports, Chirunga was driving a Toyota Dyna truck with a fuel tank on its trailer and told Siyakurima that he wanted to fill the tank with diesel and that payments would be done after they had a full price of the amount of diesel.
It is alleged that Chirunga then answered a call pretending to talk to a person he claimed was his boss and said he (the boss) would cover the diesel cost.
Chirunga’s purported boss then sent a fake confirmation of payment to Siyakurima who did not thoroughly check the authenticity of the proof of payment he had received and Chirunga immediately drove away from the scene, transferring the tank to another vehicle in a bid to conceal the offence.
The matter then came to light when Siyakurima’s boss was making daily reconciliations and discovered that $1,317 could not be accounted for, which reflected that Chirunga did not pay for the fuel.
The matter was then reported to the police for investigations where Chirunga was apprehended while driving the same truck he had when the offence was committed, leading to his arrest.
He was released on $100 bail and ordered to continue residing at his current address and not interfere with witnesses.
Chirunga will be back in court on August 7.
