Former Police Commissioner’s Wife Gets 18 Months for Infant Kidnapping
Gweru Provincial magistrate Ms Beaulity Dube has handed down a sentence of 18 months in prison to Sakhile Tanyanyiwa (34), wife of former Police Commissioner Mekia Tanyanyiwa, for the kidnapping of a two-month-old infant.
Appearing before Ms Dube, Sakhile faced one count of kidnapping and pleaded guilty to the charge.
Ms Dube imposed a sentence of 18 months in prison but suspended six months of the sentence. Consequently, Sakhile will serve an effective 12-month term.
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According to the State’s case, the incident occurred last Friday when the infant’s mother was returning from Gweru Provincial Hospital after collecting her baby’s birth record. Sakhile, accompanied by two others in a white Toyota Aqua with registration number AFW 6208, offered the mother a lift.
During the journey, they made a stop at 6247 South View, where Sakhile asked the mother to disembark from the vehicle. As the mother did so, the car sped off towards the Gweru–Bulawayo highway with her baby still inside.
Promptly, the mother reported the incident to the police.
Sakhile then took the child home, falsely claiming to her husband that she had given birth. However, her husband became suspicious, especially after learning about the baby-snatching incident in Gweru.
Subsequently, Mekia took the baby to CID Gweru, and Sakhile later surrendered herself to the police.
