A 29-year-old Zimbabwean man has been arrested in Botswana after he was found travelling to South Africa with seven children in a suspected human trafficking case.
Eric Mpofu, who is unemployed, appeared before a
Francistown Magistrate, Chandapiwa Molefi, on Monday on a charge of
ill-treatment of children.
According to media reports, Mpofu was arrested by police on
December 3 at Bluetown while travelling with seven children from Zimbabwe to
South Africa.
Prosecutor Sesafeleng Dijeng applied for charges to be read
to Mpofu and his plea was reserved.
Dijeng also made an application for Mpofu to be remanded in
custody and called the Investigating Officer (IO) to advance reasons why Mpofu
should be remanded in custody.
After the charges were read to the accused, Magistrate
Molefi asked Dijeng to clarify the particulars of the offence since the case
has elements of human trafficking.
In response, Dijeng said Mpofu was found transporting
minors from Zimbabwe to South Africa.
“The minors had no parents accompanying them when they were
found in the company of Mpofu, hence we are saying that they are vulnerable to
ill-treatment.
“The investigators are still trying to unravel if the
accused had permission from the legal guardians or parents of the children to
take them to South Africa as he alleges,” said Dijeng.
The investigating officer, Assistant Superintendent Meshack
Mosika, told the court that Mpofu was arrested last Friday and that investigations were at their initial stages,
hence the proposal to continue detaining him.
Our investigations so far show that the accused was in
transit from Zimbabwe to South Africa through Botswana.
“He has no permanent place of residence in Botswana, he
does not have any gainful employment in Botswana and he is also facing a very
serious offence.
We are yet to ascertain charges that could be later
levelled against Mpofu since his current charge has an element of human
trafficking,” said Mosika.
He added that Mpofu could flee the country once freed on
bail.
Investigators also believe the process of investigations
could be protracted since Zimbabwean and South African authorities may be
involved.
“We have to establish the guardians of the children in
Zimbabwe as well as their parents who are said to be in South Africa.
There is also the likelihood of having to carry out DNA
tests to confirm if the people who will come forward to claim that they are
parents of the children are indeed their parents.
We are afraid that if the accused is granted bail, he is
unlikely to fulfil his bail conditions,” said Mosika.
The children are presently under police care.
Asked by Magistrate Molefi why the children were under
police care and not social welfare officers since the matter was urgent and
involved children, Dijeng made a miscellaneous application to be given time to
urgently finalise the process of handing
over the custody of the children from police to social welfare officers.
Molefi then remanded Mpofu in custody. Herald
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