adminappeared in court facing 10 counts of stock theft.
Tafadzwa Matema (27) pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared before Chitungwiza magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga on Tuesday.
Ms Mariga remanded him on US$50 bail to October 17. His accomplice Simukai Nyemba of Chitungwiza is on the run. Prosecutor, Ms Kareni Kunaka, alleges that the duo had been stealing cattle in the surrounding villages in Seke for a while before Matema was caught. The incident that led to the arrest of Matema happened on January 6 last year, when he hatched a plan with Nyemba to steal beasts from a village in Dema.
That same day during the night, they went to Esau Marikopo’s cattle pen and stole two oxen and drove them to a gum plantation near Dema council offices where they slaughtered them.
After that, they hired a car to ferry the loot to Chitungwiza where they sold the meat. Marikopo discovered that his cattle were missing the following day and made a report at Dema Police Station. Investigations led to the arrest of Matema who implicated Nyemba.
Online Reporter