Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Chisepo
Court Correspondent
A MBARE man appeared in court yesterday facing charges of allegedly stealing telecommunications infrastructure and possessing copper without a certificate of origin.
Jeffrey Simbarashe Micha Murandu (41) appeared before Harare regional magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa and pleaded guilty to the charges.
The matter was, however, referred to a trial court for plea recording tomorrow.
The complainant is TelOne Zimbabwe, represented by its loss control officer, Rodger Gwenjere.
The State alleges that on Tuesday, at around 3am, Murandu went to a house in Eastlea, Harare, where he allegedly attempted to remove a brass postal box at the main gate.
He was allegedly heard by the homeowner, Celso Chiang, who immediately woke up.
Chiang, together with his two sons, went to the main gate and allegedly found Murandu holding an unidentified object while trying to remove the brass postal box.
Upon realising that he had been noticed, Murandu allegedly fled from the scene.
Chiang and his sons chased him for about 60 metres before catching up with him.
A search was conducted and Murandu was allegedly found in possession of TelOne drop wires and scrap copper.
He was subsequently taken to ZRP Rhodesville for further investigations.
The State further alleged that Gwenjere was called to identify the recovered property and positively identified a six-metre drop-wire cable as belonging to TelOne.
A weighing certificate was obtained from the National Railways of Zimbabwe, which established that the recovered copper weighed five kilogrammes.
The copper was subsequently taken to the University of Zimbabwe for assay.
