Four people have appeared in court for allegedly stealing from a quarantine facility in Harare.
The four, recent returnees from South Africa who are believed to be ex-convicts in various prisons in the neighbouring country will now undergo unspecified days of isolation in police remand prison, the police have confirmed.
Allegation are that the other three, Fanuel Mapaiki, Allen Mungai and Tinotenda Chigwande were nabbed for theft and unlawful entry while the other inmate, Garikai Tawanda is up for attempted murder after stabbing another returnee with a pair of scissors.
The suspects were reported to have been causing mayhem at one of the quarantine facilities in the capital and had to be moved as they were a menace to the other occupants of the same facility.
However, they continued with their misdemeanours at their new facility, prompting the police to move in.
“The Zimbabwe Republic Police confirms the arrest of Fanuel Mapaiki, Allen Mungai and Tinotenda Chigwande on May 15 at Prince Edward Quarantine Centre,” Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
Tawanda who is alleged to have stabbed a fellow returnees, appeared in court facing attempted murder charges and is remanded in custody to May 29.
Tawanda was not asked to plead to the charges when he appeared before magistrate Sheunesu Matowa. He complained in court that he was feeling pain in his ribs after being assaulted by police with batons, saying he needed medical attention. The court ordered the he be assisted with medication.
The State alleges that on May 15 at around 7pm Tawanda approached Munashe Razawo, who was also isolated at Prince Edward School. It was said the two had a misunderstanding that ended up with Tawanda stabbing Razawo in the stomach several times before the latter was rushed to hospital.
The wayward behaviour of the four now in the remand cells reportedly started at Harare Polytechnic last week when authorities were forced to separate them from the rest of the returnees for rowdy conduct, with the quarantine officers in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare deciding to transfer the group to Prince Edward.
According to The Herald, one of the returnees who was quarantined with the crew before their transfer said the group was unruly from the onset.
“These were people released from South African prisons straight into quarantine facilities, said the source. They were behaving in a weird way from the first day.
Women among returnees had to be taken to Girls High instead of Harare Polytechnic after some members of the group were making disturbing comments over their bodies on the bus.”
After arriving at Harare Polytechnic, the group, which was housed in Block D is alleged to have started stealing belongings from others in quarantine.
“Things were disappearing, and they were violent towards the rest of us, said the source. They had to be moved to Prince Edward.”
The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare confirmed the fracas in the Harare Polytechnic quarantine family.
Chief Director in the Ministry, Clifford Matorera said: “What happened is that they were moved from Harare Poly to Prince Edward. We could not risk mixing ex-convicts and those in quarantine voluntarily.
Some of the ex-convicts had been originally arrested in South Africa for rape, murder, robberies and other crimes. They needed to be monitored separately.
But at Prince Edward they allegedly started committing crimes, breaking into the housemaster’s house and stealing valuables from student lockers in the hostels they are housed in. They allegedly tried to steal from the deputy head and from teachers’ cars.
Besides theft, there have been episodes of violence.
“We had to take one of the returnees to hospital after he had been stabbed by a scissors, said Mr Matorera. We do not know what the issue was about or where the attacker had got the weapon.”
The stabbed returnee was taken to hospital for treatment and is back at the quarantine facility where he is recovering.
