A 59-YEAR-OLD Harare woman was yesterday convicted of defrauding a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) official of $12 000 in a well-orchestrated residential stand scam.
BY Paidamoyo Muzulu
The woman, Nancy Kutyauripo of Waterfalls, on Wednesday told Harare magistrate Francis Mapfumo that she was coerced into duping the complainant in the matter, one Charles Nyamaropa, after joining a syndicate that wanted to take advantage of her physical disability.
Kutyauripo, who walks with a limp after suffering a mild stroke, admitted in court that she was used by a syndicate to misrepresent she was the owner of a serviced residential stand in Prospect valued at $22 000 in return for a $1 500 fee.
Apparently, Nyamaropa paid a $12 000 deposit for the stand only to discover that he had been defrauded when he approached council offices to change the title deeds into his name.
Kutyauripo said it was the syndicate’s idea that prospective buyers would fall prey and immediately pay after seeing her condition.
“I plead guilty to the charge. I was used by a syndicate which paid me $1 500 from the fraudulent deal,” Kutyauripo said.
The court heard sometime in July this year, Kutyauripo posed as Stella Katsande after obtaining a fake national identity card and passport with the intention of swindling unsuspecting home-seekers who wanted to buy the said stand.
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Kutyauripo also admitted she acted as instructed and claimed she could sign an agreement of sale for the stand which had title deeds in the name of Katsande.
Kutyauripo was initially charged alongside Emmanuel Chingara, whose alias is Kudakwashe Nyangande, and Patricia Mashanga.
However, when she pleaded guilty to the charge, the State applied for separation of trial after Nyangande and Mashanga pleaded not guilty to the offence.
The gang is said to have been manufacturing fake identity documents and title deeds which were recovered by the police.
In her mitigation, Kutyauripo told the court she was unemployed and looking after her two grandchildren whose mother was resident in South Africa.
She is expected to be sentenced on Thursday.
