A COWDRAY Park resident on Wednesday appeared in court charged with damaging underground copper cables belonging to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) as they attempted to steal them.
Busani Ncube was not asked to plead to the charge when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Mark Dzira.
He was remanded in custody to December 17 for trial commencement.
It is alleged that on November 30 at around 10pm, Ncube and a group of accomplices proceeded to an airstrip near the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Khumalo Barracks in Bulawayo.
The area houses ZETDC’s underground armoured copper cables that supply power from the Marvel substation to the Aerodrome feeder servicing suburbs including Khumalo, Paddonhurst and Emhlangeni.
The accused reportedly dug a trench approximately five metres long and 1,2 metres deep using picks.
They then used picks to cut and damage the cables, disrupting the power transmission and distribution network in the process.
The group was spotted by ZNA members on patrol.
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When they saw the soldiers, the suspects fled in different directions, but Ncube was apprehended while the rest managed to disappear into the darkness.
The estimated value of the damage caused is US$1250.
