Zimbabwean court orders Somalian deportation

Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya has ordered the deportation of a Somalia national who was arrested for illegally entering and staying in Zimbabwe.

Abdi Abdikadir (23) from 2550 Cassava Plumtree  and Orange Farm in Johannesburg pleaded guilty to the charge before the magistrate and was convicted. The magistrate sentenced him to three months in jail which was wholly suspended on condition he does not committed a similar offence within five years. The magistrate then ordered that he be deported to his country of origin.

This came after his brother Abshir Abdikadir was also convicted and given a similar sentence by the same magistrate.

Abshir who understands and is also able to speak English was sentenced earlier during the month while Abdi's case was delayed by that he said he did not understand English and there was no Frence interpreter.

The prosecutor Nathaniel Mutsikwa told the court that on September 2 2015 the detectives from Criminal Investigations Department received a tip that the two who are from Somalia entered the country and remained in without permits.  The detectives went to Bellevue Shopping centre in Bulawayo where they arrested the two who intended to board lifts top Plumtree. The two failed to produce permits and this led to their arrest.

Their arrest also led to the arrest of Nicholas Chimbuya from Mzilikazi in Bulawayo who is accused of assisting illegal immigrants after it emerged that he was the one who offered them accommodation. He was fined $50.