Chinese national Zheng Yuan Feng has been arraigned at the Misungwi District Court charged with assault on one of the workers at the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.
Mr Feng is an employee of the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) which is one of the companies constructing the fifth lot of the Standard Gauge Railway from Mwanza to Isaka covering a distance of 341 kilometers.
Mr Feng is said to have committed the offence on March 18, 2023, when he physically assaulted Ms Lucy Paul who is the cook at the SGR Fela Camp in Mwanza, first by use of indecent language before beating her up.
Due to injuries sustained after the beating, Lucy was taken to Bugando Referral Hospital in Mwanza on March 20, 2023 before being discharged on March 21 and taken back to the camp where she in now under specialized care from the project’s doctor.
After the incident, Mr Feng was arrested and kept at the Reli Police and was later moved to Misungwi police station and on March 24 and arraigned at the court.
At the Misungwi District Court, a charge sheet of Mr Feng was read with assaults offence of case number 44 of 2023, he did not qualify for the bail and was sent back to the Misungwi police station, where he is kept.
In a statement issued on Saturday March 25, by the head of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) liaison unit, Jamila Mbarouk, seen by The Citizen, it has directed Feng’s employer CCECC-CRCC to make sure Ms Lucy works freely during entire time the project is implemented.
“The company has accepted and TRC will follow up closelyon that matter,” the statement reads.
TRC has condemned the incident saying any act that causes bullying and harassment to the employees and directed contractors to monitor their staff’s movements and take actions per the laws of the country and contractual requirements.