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Court told of cash-laden vehicle
2005-08-13 08:01:13
By PST Correspondent, Moshi
The fifth prosecution witness in the Moshi 5.3bn/- National Bank of Commerce (NBC) robbery trial said on Thursday that she saw a green vehicle laden with gunny bags full of money on the day of the incident.
NBC employee Dora Lewis was testifying before Deputy Registrar of the Commercial Court, Amir Mruma, at the Moshi District Court.
Led by State counsel Yvonne Mashara, Lewis said she was returning to the office from her lunch break on May 21, 2004 when she saw a man dragging a bag full of currency notes along the corridor of the Moshi NBC Branch.
She said the man was loading the money onto a green van parked on the bank’s backyard while another man guarded the loot.
As she stood on the doorway trying to figure out what was happening, one of the two men whipped out a pistol and led her at gunpoint to the strongroom where she found other NBC workers and customers lying on the floor.
Lewis, who works at the branch’s loans department, said she was bundled into the strongroom after the robbers had taken 180,000/- that was in her handbag.
Earlier, the fourth prosecution witness, Gertrude Johnson, said she saw and heard the first accused, Jackson ole Nemetemi, ordering NBC employees and customers to head towards the strongroom.
She said ole Nemetemi and his accomplices herded their captives into the strongroom at gunpoint while warning them not to attempt to do ’’anything silly’’
She added that she easily identified ole Nemetemi because of his stocky figure and the distinctive leather jacket he was wearing. The accused also did not bother to hide his face behind a mask, Johnson told the court.
The sixth witness, Festo Kessy, a gardener at the branch, said he saw a green vehicle inside the perimeter wall on the day of the robbery.
’’There was a green vehicle parked inside and there were a lot of 10,000/- currency notes inside the car,’’ he told the court.
Kessy said he was accosted by a pistol-wielding robber who frogmarched him into the strongroom where about two dozen people were locked up.
Hendrieta Mawalla, the seventh prosecution witness who works in the foreign exchange department, said she was going about her work when the robbers stormed into her office and dragged her to the strongroom.
One of the robbers kicked and injured her on her right leg, she told the court.
More prosecution witnesses were expected to testify yesterday.
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