Students from Bulawayo Poly Imprisoned for Robbing Chicken Inn and Mukuru

TWO engineering students from Bulawayo Polytechnic who robbed a Mukuru store, two Simbisa retail stores, and other Bulawayo homes said in court that their motivation for committing the crimes came from the ostentatious lives that celebrities flaunted on social media.

Lenny Mupande, 21, of Gweru, and Bezel Chirova, 21, of the Bulawayo neighbourhood of Njube, were found guilty based on their own admissions.

They were found guilty of offences between March and September and each received an 11-year prison sentence.

Mupande and Chirova begged for mercy in their mitigation, claiming that social pressure from their “well-off” peers and the lifestyles of social media stars drove them to perpetrate the crimes.