Michael Mashiri
A man has been taken to court after he allegedly altered his late mother’s will for him to gain from her estate, leading his sister to suffer more than US$200 000 financial prejudice.
Gregory Graham Hall, 50, of Kariba, appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi before the Harare Magistrates’ Courts facing theft and fraud allegations.
The complainant in this matter is Mellanie Jane Hall of Avondale in Harare.
The State, through prosecutor Zebediah Bofu alleges that on November 11, 2010, Norreece Lesley Hall, the mother of Gregory and Mellanie passed on, leaving her properties.
In 2011, Hall allegedly forged a will and tendered it to the Master of the High Court, claiming that it was written by his late mother on May 21, 2008.
The forged claimed that Graham had been appointed executor and sole beneficiary of his late mother’s properties, including her shares.
It is alleged that Graham then started selling properties belonging to his late mother amounting to US$50 000, sold flats at 28 Bridgeways for US$110 000, took £100 000 from his mother’s United Kingdom bank account.
It is alleged that he then started collecting US$600 per month rentals from tenants at the deceased’s Sutherland Flats of from 2011 to date.
Mellanie later discovered that the will used by Gregory to dispose the deceased properties had a fake signature of her mother and reported the matter to police.
The alleged will was taken for signature examination to experts and it was established that it did not belong to the deceased, leading to Gregory’s arrest.
The total value which was prejudiced was £100 000 and US$329 600 and nothing was recovered.
The State also alleges that Graham sometime in 1992, his late mother registered a company called Lakeland Ventures Pvt Limited and put two houses and a commercial fishing plot in Andorra Harbour, Kariba, as the company properties.
She then put both Graham and Mellanie as non-voting shareholders in the company with 450/450 shares each.
After the mother passed on in 2010, Graham took over the company affairs as the sole director.
In 2011, Graham then started selling properties belonging to the company, including tractors, three fishing boats, a Mazda pick-up, a speed boat and tools worth US$60 000.
Graham was also receiving rentals of US$1 000 and US$2 000 from two tenants at the company’s fishing plot since 2011.
It is alleged that Graham received a total of US$647 200 from the sale of the company properties and rentals and deprived Mellanie of her US$291 240.
As a result, the total value which was prejudiced was US$291 240 and nothing was recovered.
Graham was remanded out of custody to February 2 pending finalisation of investigations.
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