Police officer, fire fighter in court for ‘theft’ from Apostle Chiriseri

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Obey Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter
A POLICE officer and a fire fighter briefly appeared in court yesterday for allegedly stealing money which was in the pocket of the late founder of His Presence Ministries International Apostle Charles Chiriseri who died in a car crash last year.

Apostle Chiriseri died in September last year when his vehicle hit a donkey at the 44km peg along the Bulawayo-Harare highway. He was travelling from Harare with his wife Pertunia who suffered serious injuries and was admitted in hospital for about a month before she was discharged.

Tawanda Mawere (31) stationed at Mbembesi police station and Mthandazo Rick Dube (34) from Bulawayo Fire Brigade appeared before magistrate Sithembiso Ncube facing a charge of theft.

The duo was jointly charged with Constable Mkhokheli Mpofu (30), who died on March 17 this year after he was hit by a vehicle driven by a former police officer, Mr Peter Cahile, who failed to stop at a roadblock near the spot where Apostle Chiriseri died.

The remaining two accused told the court they were not served with court papers and the matter was remanded to April 13 for commencement of trial.

Prosecuting, Mr Alfonse Makonese told the court that on September 15 last year, Dube retrieved the deceased’s body from the wreckage and searched it.

“He then took $505, 95 from the wallet and recorded it in the Famona Fire brigade log book and the two police officers, Mawere and Mpofu, appended their signatures in the presence of Mount Olives International church Pastor Gordon Dube who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene,” said Mr Makonese.

When pastor Dube left the accident scene, the trio allegedly connived to steal $200 from the money they had recovered.

Mr Makonese said the theft was discovered when a relative to the apostle, Bishop Colin Nyathi of Harvest House International Ministries, communicated with Pastor Dube who revealed to him the amount of money found in Apostle Chiriseri’s pocket.

“On September 17, Pastor Dube inquired from Pastor Nyathi whether he had collected Chiriseri’s property and he told him that he was only handed $305,95 as the recovered property.

“He confronted Mawere and Mpofu about the missing $200 and they both denied having misappropriated the funds.”

The money and the fire fighter’s log book were not recovered. Investigations were carried out leading to the accused persons’ arrest.

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