The trial of a suspected Bulawayo con artist, who was on the police wanted list for allegedly stripping his friend’s two vehicles, kicks off tomorrow. Richard Muponde Senior Court Reporter Willie Kapenya of Fourwinds denied the theft and fraud charges when he appeared before magistrate Gladys Mushowe last week.
He is out custody on $100 bail for the fraud charge and out on his own cognisance for the theft charge.
Kapenya was arrested in January when the complainant, Manfred Nhemachena, spotted him in the city after having been on the run since 2010. State counsel Jerry Mutsindikwa told the court that on April 2, 2009, Kapenya borrowed Nhemachena’s vehicle for a week.
He failed to return the vehicle, an Isuzu KB, after the agreed period until Nhemachena made a follow-up.
Kapenya allegedly claimed that it had developed a mechanical problem and he was going to return it once it was fixed.
Nhemachena eventually left for his base in South Africa before he recovered the car.
Kapenya then allegedly stripped the vehicle and sold the parts to various people, leaving only a shell.
When Nhemachena returned in August 2010, he discovered that his vehicle had been vandalised. Kapenya owned up and promised to replace the missing parts, but he allegedly duped Nhemachena of another vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, which he reportedly sold in Masvingo without his knowledge.
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He then went on the run when Nhemachena pressed him demanding his vehicles.
