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Zim soldier shot border-jumper
10/04/2007 10:06 - (SA)
Harare - A Zimbabwean soldier has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting dead a suspected border jumper in the south of the country, reports said on Tuesday.
Bernard Mpofu was arrested after he shot and killed Happyson Dube on March 27 at a checkpoint near the country's Beitbridge border post, according to the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
Dube was travelling on the back of a vehicle that failed to stop at the checkpoint.
As a result, Mpofu allegedly opened fire at the occupants of the open-backed vehicle, hitting Dube in the head, the paper said.
Dube, who had a bullet lodged in his head, was then rushed to Nottingham Estate Clinic where he was pronounced dead on admission.
The soldier, who appeared before a Beitbridge magistrate on Thursday, was remanded in custody to April 17 for trial.
Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans try to flee Zimbabwe's economic meltdown every year by crossing illegally into neighbouring South Africa.
Last year South Africa is reported to have deported more than 100 000 illegal immigrants back to Zimbabwe.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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