Zimbabwe’s Jean Gasho Walks Free As Companions Arrested In Scotland Forest Eviction
Zimbabwe’s Jean Gasho has walked free after a dawn eviction of the self-styled “Kingdom of Kubala” in the Scottish Borders, while her two companions were taken away in handcuffs. The dramatic removal, which took place on Thursday, 2 October 2025, brought months of confrontation with local authorities to a climax.
The eviction unfolded like a stage play — with drones buzzing overhead, a convoy of vans rolling in, and uniformed officers pouring into the woodland camp near Jedburgh. The entire scene was streamed live by the group on TikTok, watched by their thousands of followers across the world. Within minutes, the three figures who called themselves king, queen, and handmaiden saw their “kingdom” dismantled. Two were arrested. One — Zimbabwean Jean Gasho — was not.
Queen Walks Free As King And Handmaiden Arrested
The raid, carried out at about 08:00, saw Kofi Offeh (36), a Ghanaian styling himself King Atehene, and Kaura Taylor (21) from Texas, who calls herself Asnat, arrested on suspicion of immigration offences. According to BBC Scotland News, they were both handcuffed by immigration officers and escorted from the camp.
Jean Gasho (43), who is originally from Zimbabwe and is known as Queen Nandi, left the site in the back of a pick-up truck with her head covered. Unlike her companions, she was not arrested.
By 10:00, the cordon was lifted and council workers moved in to dismantle what was left of the camp. BBC reporters at the scene described bags of clothing, blankets, and food being tossed into refuse lorries.
Months Of Court Battles And Claims Of Ancestral Land
The eviction came just a day after Selkirk Sheriff Court ruled the trio could not return to private land from which they had previously been evicted. The week before, they had also been barred from occupying council-owned land across the Borders.
The group first arrived in Jedburgh in spring 2025 and quickly attracted attention. With more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and Facebook, the trio declared they were reclaiming land “stolen from their ancestors 400 years ago.” They refused to recognise the courts and styled themselves as royalty.
Jedburgh councillor Scott Hamilton told the BBC:
“It has been a long effort by the local council, police and other services to achieve this outcome. The locals have had to put up with a great deal. This is an industrial estate, with businesses operating from here, and they’ve been put under a huge amount of pressure over the last few months.”
Family Fears And The End Of The Kingdom
The case has drawn international headlines but also deep personal concern. Sky News reported that Taylor’s mother, Melba Whitehead, believed her daughter had been “lured and coerced” into joining the group, which she described as a “cult.”
She said:
“This isn’t just another young adult rebelling. The difference is she’s under someone else’s spell in another country.”
Taylor rejected this, telling Sky:
“Others are not my concern. People who care about my best interests know why I am here.”
For now, Offeh and Taylor face the immigration system while Gasho has walked free. But the brief life of the so-called Kingdom of Kubala — a camp in the woods above Jedburgh — appears to have ended in bin bags, handcuffs, and the silence of a cleared forest.
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