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Wynne Zanamwe, Midlands Reporter
A 33 YEAR-OLD man from Gweru, who posed as a car dealer, duped two traffic officers and a nurse of over $17,000.

Mbonisi Sibanda was yesterday arraigned before Provincial Magistrate Mrs Phathekile Msipa facing four counts of theft.  Sibanda who duped one of the complainants twice is pleading not guilty.

The magistrate remanded him out of custody on $200 bail to August 1 for trial.

Prosecutor, Miss Helen Khosa told the court that Sibanda conned constables Christine Matare and Perpetual Shumba both stationed at Gweru Traffic and Sister Shylet Chinyakuze, a nurse at Shurugwi Hospital.

Miss Khosa said on the first count and in the month of August last year, Cst Matare who resides at Mtapa camp approached Sibanda and asked him to purchase a Honda Fit on her behalf using his account from Japan.

“The complainant then gave the accused $900 but then faced some financial problems and could not finish paying for the car,” she said.

Sometime in March, the court heard, Cst Matare topped up with $985 which was now for a Mark II before she gave Sibanda a further $1,900 for duty.

Miss Khosa said Cst Matare was prejudiced $3,785 by the complainant who did not purchase the vehicle.

“Matare later approached Sibanda with the intention of purchasing a Toyota Hiace from Japan and gave him a total of $2,800. She suffered a total prejudice of $6,585 and nothing was recovered,” she said.

On the third count Sibanda allegedly defrauded Sister Chinyakuze of $1,511 which she paid as deposit for a Toyota Corolla.

Miss Khosa told the court that on the fourth count, Cst Shumba approached Sibanda and gave him $9,000 for the purchase of a Toyota Hiace from Japan.

The accused gave Shumba excuses saying that there had been a problem with the paperwork and gave her false promises.

The complainants reported the matters to the police leading to Sibanda’s arrest.