Fraudulent ploy to sell property using fake docume...

Fraudulent ploy to sell property using fake documents backfires for Seke man

Michael Mashiri

A Seke man who nearly sold a stand for US$50 000 using fake documentation was arraigned before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts for contravening Section 136 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, Chapter 9:23.

The accused is Lovejoy Nyamande, 62, of Masona Village, Seke, while the complainant in the matter is Trinity Mukewo, 32, who is in the business of property development.

The court heard that sometime in January 2023, Nyamande obtained fake title deeds of stand number 635 Good Hope Township, Harare, and a fake national dentity card in the name of Marlven Simbarashe Gono, who is the real owner of the stand.

After obtaining these documents, he called Mukewo telling him that he was selling a stand measuring 2 037 square metres at a price of US$50 000.

Since Mukewo is into property development, he engaged Embassy Real Estate Agents in Harare so that they could go and view the stand, which they did and they were satisfied with it.

Mukewo and Nyamande agreed to meet on January 17 at Embassy Real Estate Agents in Harare for payment and processing of an agreement of sale for the property.

On the agreed date when the two met, Nyamande confirmed he was selling the property in question for US$50 000 and produced a title deed for the property along with a national identity card in the name of Gono.

Mukewo, through Embassy Real Estate, then sought to verify the authenticity of the title deeds with the Deeds Office which informed them that the deed of transfer was a fake one. They reported the matter to police, leading to Nyamande’s arrest.

He appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi who requested him to return on January 24 for bail consideration.