HARARE – A suspected murder fugitive has been arrested at his Chiredzi hide-out more than three years since he allegedly killed a Harare man for stealing his cash and clothes.

Elton Pardon, 27, allegedly committed the heinous crime with his two friends, named Wallen Mupunga and Masimba Makoto.

The two are now serving life sentences for killing one Tinotenda Mandiyanike.

Pardon was brought before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi charged with murder.

He was not asked to plead and was remanded to June 4 pending his indictment.

According to the State, on 22 May 2021 around midnight, Pardon and his accomplices assaulted Mandiyanike accusing him of having stolen Makoto’s US$400 cash, seven pairs of jean trousers and spanners.

“The accused stuffed some cloth in deceased’s mouth preventing him from shouting for help, and tied his hands and legs using shoelaces,” prosecutor Thomas Chanakira told the court.

The court further heard they severely assaulted him using electric cables, car jumpers, button stick, open hands and also kicked him all over his body until he admitted stealing Makoto’s property.

They allegedly went further to force Mandiyanike to lead them to his residence where they intended to recover the stolen property.

“At around 8am, they accused took Mandiyanike  into Makoto’s blue Mercedes Benz C180 with registration number ADI 7937 and went to deceased’s residence where they conducted a search for the stolen property in the presence of deceased’s sisters Miriam Mangozho and Vivian Mandiyanike but found nothing.

“The accused took him back into their motor vehicle and drove off to Sunway City area where they continued assaulting him until he became unconscious,” reads court papers.

They then drove to Windsor 24-hour Medical Clinic where they lied to Doctor Blessing Nyamvura that the deceased had been assaulted by a mob after stealing a cell phone.

The doctor checked deceased’s pulse but could not see any sign of life and he advised the accused to report the case at ZRP Ruwa.

It is alleged that Pardon and his accomplices drove off and later dumped deceased’s body in Norton at a 62-kilometer peg along Harare-Bulawayo Road before escaping.

The court heard on the same date, deceased’s body was discovered lying along the road by a certain motorist who then made a police report at ZRP Norton Traffic.

Police attended the scene and ferried deceased body to Norton Hospital for postmortem.

On 11 August 2021, Pardon’s accomplice, Makoto was arrested and he implicated Mupunga as his accomplices.