A 41-year-old Mbare man has appeared in court facing allegations of stealing telecommunications infrastructure and possessing copper without a certificate of origin.
Jeffrey Simbarashe Micha Murandu appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa and pleaded guilty to the charges. The matter was deferred to the trial court for formal plea recording tomorrow.
TelOne Zimbabwe is the complainant in the case and is represented by its loss control officer, Rodger Gwenjere.
The State alleges that Murandu went to a house in Eastlea, Harare, at about 3am on Tuesday and attempted to remove a brass postal box installed at the property’s main gate.
The homeowner, Celso Chiang, reportedly heard a noise and woke up. He then went to the gate with his two sons, where they allegedly found Murandu holding an unidentified object while trying to remove the box.
Murandu allegedly ran away after realising that he had been detected. Chiang and his sons are said to have pursued him for approximately 60 metres before apprehending him.
According to the State, a subsequent search allegedly led to the recovery of TelOne drop wires and scrap copper in Murandu’s possession. He was later taken to Rhodesville Police Station for further investigations.
The court also heard that Gwenjere was called to identify the recovered items and positively identified a six-metre drop-wire cable as TelOne property.
A weighing certificate issued by the National Railways of Zimbabwe reportedly showed that the recovered copper weighed five kilogrammes. The material was subsequently submitted to the University of Zimbabwe for assay.
The allegations are yet to be tested in court.
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