
Police however, did not release Tichaona Tinevimbo Shumba
but told him to ask a friend to bring the snake to the Police station. The
friend brought the one-and-half metre long cobra inside a plastic bag and
handed it over to the accused who then fed it and gave it water while the
Policemen watched.
Police immediately added another charge to the accused who
had been arrested for absconding court after an unlawful entry. They charged
him with contravening Immigration, Parks and Wildlife Act.
He appeared before Magistrate Tafadzwa Mhlanga and there
was pandemonium in the court when the Magistrate asked him to produce the
snake. Female court officials scurried for cover when the cobra was removed
from its bag.
Magistrate Mhlanga remanded Shumba and instructed the State to engage Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority officials to certify if the snake is really a cobra before the case
can proceed.
Shumba told The Mirror earlier that he was in the habit of
capturing all kinds of snakes and keeping them at home as pests. He said he had
picked the particular snake which he brought to the courts at the Chiredzi
dumpsite.
He said snake poisons did not affect him anymore as he was
bitten many times before.
It is the State case that Shumba was arrested by Police
after absconding court. He was detained and after a day, he asked for
permission to go and feed his snake. The snake was however, brought by a
friend.
"At the moment
I have this cobra only but I used to have many. They listen to me and you will
never see it running away if we become friends. I have been staying with this
one which is almost one and half metres long for many days. I once caught a
black mamba and stayed with it for months," said Shumba. Masvingo mirro
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