Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
A Zimbabwean based in England, Christopher Arundell, who had dreams of playing professional football, faces deportation for a crime he committed six years ago.
Arundell (26) was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 for drug trafficking and assault, according to BBC, but did four years behind bars. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, but denied the assault charges.
After his release he had a season’s stint at Sleaford Rangers, a club that plays in the United Counties League Premier Division North.
Before his arrest, Arundell had been accepted at Staines Town Football Club’s Academy upon finishing his General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).
Arundell, who told BBC that ‘Britain is the only place I have had a life,’ having left Zimbabwe at the age of five, said he knows no one in Zimbabwe and will be ‘basically dead’ if he was to be deported from Britain.
“This is the only place I’ve had a life. What do you remember from when you’re five?” said the 26-year-old, who was born in Zimbabwe and lived there until the age of five.
“I don’t know anything, but the UK. I went to school here, all my friends are here, all my family is here,” he explained to the BBC over the phone from Brook House detention centre, near Gatwick Airport, where he has been held since late last month.
“If I have to go back – I’m basically dead.”
Chris’s family have become British citizens, including his two younger siblings.
The Arundells, according to the report, left Zimbabwe after they experienced three frightening burglaries – moving house after each incident.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary
Nick Mangwana is on record saying Zimbabweans returning home have nothing to fear.
Online Reporter