‘JERABO Ordered Us To Pack Copper’

By ETAMBUYU SANG’ANDU
A JUVENILE testified in court how he and two others were kidnapped by an alleged copper thief commonly referred to as ‘Jerabos’ and forced to pack copper ore in sacks.
Particulars of the offence were that Koli Diop, the accused person, on January 1, in Kitwe kidnapped the three juveniles and subjected them to slavery.
Diop is facing three counts of kidnapping three boys contrary to Section 257 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
The accused appeared before magistrate Daniel Musonda and denied all the three charges levelled against him.
A fourteen-year-old juvenile testified that on the material day he left home to check for his Grade Nine results at Nkana High School.
The boy asked his two friends aged 15 and 17 to escort him to school and on their way, they saw two men standing near the school entrance.
He narrated that the men asked them where they were going and later ordered his friends to remain outside, while he was allowed to go and collect the results.
“They forced my friends to sit down and told me to go and get my results. When I came back, he (the accused) also forced me to sit down and wait.
“Thereafter, a white Fuso Fighter truck came and we were told to get on the truck and Diop threatened that if we dared to jump he was going to hit us with a shavel,” the boy explained.
The boy added that as they were going, the truck got stuck in the mud and they were forced to push it out.
He said when the truck was pushed out of the mud, it was driven to a nearby bush near Mopani Copper Mine on Kalulushi-Kitwe Road.
When they reached the destination, they found a lot of young people whose ages ranged between 16 and 17 packing copper ore in sacks.
He said the accused told them to start packing the sacks onto the truck.
“When the truck got full, we went to a certain company in the industrial area of Kitwe where we started offloading the sacks.
“The truck left us at KMB and the accused told us to take the tools at his friend’s residence in Nkana West,” he said.
The ordeal was then reported to Kitwe Central Police after the juveniles narrated what had happened to their parents.
The matter is coming up for ruling on May 24.