Businessman in court for US$500 000 copper theft

magistrate Mr Hosea Mujaya.
He was remanded to March 15 this year for trial.
He is being represented by Mr Musindo Hungwe of Chinyama and Partners and Mr Pisirayi Kwenda of Kwenda and Associates.
The complainant in the matter is Halwick Investments (Pvt) Ltd operating as Whelson-GDC Transport represented by Mr Elliot Jemu.
Mapfumo is one of the directors of Galtrax Investments.
Prosecutor Ms Sarah Bosha alleged that on January 16, 2010 along the Harare-Masvingo Road, Mapfumo in the company of Emmanuel Bere, Mellous Matanhire, Samuel Samulatta and Chipo Dhlamini who are still at large stole a GDC-Whelson truck and its consignment of 28 664 tonnes of copper cathodes which were destined for South Africa.
Mapfumo, it is alleged, unhooked the GDC-Whelson Truck horse and ordered his driver Mapfuwa Chakanetsa to drive one of his company’s truck horse from Harare to Chivhu to hook the GDC trailer which contained the cathodes.
Ms Bosha said Chakanetsa went to Chivhu and hooked the trailer and headed for Harare where the copper cathodes were offloaded from the GDC trailer to one of Mapfumo’s trailers and smuggled to South Africa.
The offence came to light after GDC’s vehicle tracking system showed that the truck in question was parked in Gweru and off route for a period of 16 hours. The truck horse was recovered in Gweru where it was abandoned.
Investigations revealed that the copper cathodes were smuggled to South Africa on January 22 the same year by Chakanetsa after using fraudulent documents attached purporting that the copper was from Zambia.
When Mapfumo learnt that police were aware of the theft, he requested Mrs Jima from Kwekwe who had come to buy one of the trailers to tow the GDC trailer with her truck horse to his sister’s residence in Hatfield in Harare.
Mrs Jima, it is alleged, became suspicious that the trailer could have been stolen because of its state.
The trailer was found in Hatfield where it was dumped on January 23, 2010 and the truck seal numbers were recovered by police in Graniteside where Mapfumo’s trucks were parked.
The property stolen was valued at US$500 000 and the truck horse and trailer recovered are valued at US$100 000.