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Prosper Dembedza Court Reporter
A commuter omnibus crew of three men appeared in court yesterday on allegations of kidnapping five University of Zimbabwe students after they failed to agree on the fare. Fanuel Chipameso (40), Godknows Bezeki (23) and Tererai Luwande later dumped the students at Bond Street Shopping Centre in Mt Pleasant as punishment. They were charged with kidnapping when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Nomsa Sabarauta.

One of the students, Michelle Kuzivashe, is the complainant in the matter. The three denied the charges, saying the students refused to disembark from their commuter omnibus when they arrived at the university campus. They will be back in court on October 30.

Allegations are that on October 21 at around 3pm, Kuzivashe boarded the commuter omnibus along Second Street in the company of Tashinga Chiwara, Richard Matande, Steve Musabayana and Dean Cheza. Kuzivashe and her four colleagues, the court heard, negotiated with the kombi crew for them to pay R2 each.

The four allegedly boarded the commuter omnibus and paid R2 each as per agreement. Upon arrival at the university, one of the accused who was sitting in front said they were supposed to pay R5 each. The court heard that all the other passengers disembarked but the five students were barred from disembarking. It is alleged that Mutande and Cheza managed to jump off the moving vehicle but the driver kept on driving saying he wanted to drop them at Bond Street Shopping Centre as punishment.

The court heard that the remaining three Kuzivashe, Musabayana and Chiwara pleaded with the kombi crew to drop them off, but they refused. The trio allegedly dropped the students at Bond Street Shopping Centre in Mt Pleasant, and Kuzivashe, Musabayana and Chiwara walked from the shopping centre to the University campus.