'Cops throw thief into gorge'

THE case of a man who allegedly outpaced police officers while in leg irons and made a suicidal dive into a deep gorge in Victoria Falls has taken a new twist after he told a court that cops cuffed and dumped him at the gorge.

Police allegedly gave up on Stanley Muzamba (33) from Chisuma Village under Chief Mvuthu outside Victoria Falls town, thinking he had drowned.

He turned up at Victoria Falls Police Station four days later after allegedly failing to remove the leg irons, which were cutting into his swollen ankles.

Muzamba told Victoria Falls magistrate Ms Rangarirai Gakanje that the unlawful entry and theft charges he was arrested for were fabricated after he turned down sexual advances from his former employer Mrs Abigail Nyamawunga (41).

Muzamba pleaded not guilty to unlawful entry and theft as well as escaping from lawful custody.

Ms Gakanje remanded him in custody to January 8 for judgement.

Muzamba said: "I didn't run away from police custody. The police took me to the gorges after assaulting me for telling them that Abigail Nyamawunga had given me the soap as a gift. They dumped me there and I could not walk and I stayed there for three days. I fell on a rock."

Turning to the love advances Muzamba said: "Abigail Nyamawunga always gave me goodies and she wanted to make me her man but I would always turn her down."

Muzamba said he turned himself in after recovering at the gorge.

"Although they dumped me at the gorges, I was still in their custody that's why I surrendered myself," he said.

Mrs Nyamawunga denied making sexual advances towards Muzamba.

"He is lying. The soap he claims I gave him, I handed it to his wife as she worked as a maid at the lodge."

"We suspected Stanley could have stolen the television set and the piece of soap because these things had gone missing on the same day he had moved out as he had resigned from work," said Mrs Nyamawunga.

The prosecutor Mr Listen Nare said: "On December 1, Muzamba, who is an ex-employee at Africa Premier Safaris, unlawfully entered the premises through a window and stole a 32 inch TV set and a piece of soap."

"The accused was later arrested and he offered to do indications and recoveries in Chisuma area where he said the stolen goods were hidden. He was secured with leg irons and while he was making indications, he escaped and went into Jembwe Gorges."

The court heard that the cops failed to locate him and went back to the station. Muzamba allegedly turned up at the Victoria Falls Police Station after breaking the chain joining the cuffs but failed to remove them from around his ankles. The value of the stolen goods is $451 and only the soap was recovered.