Sylvester Chiramba, Court Reporter
THREE Bulawayo men accused of defrauding a desperate home-seeker of $13 000 have appeared in court.
Patrick Wilson Banda, from Kensington suburb, Raymond Mkwananzi and John Dube both from Cowdray Park suburb allegedly forged the late John Zvorufura’s title deeds and sold his stand in Emganwini suburb to Mfundisi Moyo.
The three and their accomplice Selo Ncube who is still at large lied to Moyo that the stand belonged to them.
The trio were remanded out of custody to Friday for trial by Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube.
Prosecuting, Mrs Memory Ndlovu said between August 21 and October 1 this year, the accused persons misrepresented to Moyo that he and his accomplices were the owners of stand number 5217 Emganwini suburb in Bulawayo.
“The accused persons, used edited false documentation of the late John Zvorufura to convince the complainant that the stand belonged to them,” she said.
“The accused made the complainant pay $5 000 for the land and made him to develop it at another cost of $8 000 whilst the land belonged to Cecilia Machokoto the widow of the late John Zvorufura.”
The court also heard that sometime in October, Machokoto approached Moyo with proper documentation showing that she had inherited the stand from her late husband, hence it was rightfully hers and she did not intend to sell it.
The total amount of money that the home seeker lost is $13 000 and nothing has been recovered.
@SlyCee10