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Chido Nyamuyaruka Court Correspondent
A HARARE car dealer allegedly swindled a customer of US$16 850 by promising to deliver two second-hand Mercedes Benz vehicles but delivered neither and pocketed up-front payments and deposits, a magistrate heard yesterday.
Alfred Mbodzi is facing theft charges and was remanded out of custody on bail of $20 000 by Harare magistrate Yeukai Dzuda. He returns to court on October 28 for trial.
The prosecution said that in May this year, Mbodzi lied to Carlton Mugadzaweta that he would supply him with a Mercedes Benz at a cost of US$6 000 cash.
Mugadzaweta then paid Mbodzi the US$6 000, plus US$400 for the storage fee, US$1 500 for Zimra duty clearance as well as US$1 650 for flight expenses to collect the vehicle from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
The next month, Mbodzi again allegedly lied to Mugadzaweta that he could supply him with another Mercedes Benz C200 through Be forward, which was going for US$14 000.
Mugadzaweta paid US$ 7 300 but was never issued a proforma invoice to that effect. Mbodzi failed to deliver the two vehicles to Mugadzaweta and so the total allegedly stolen is US$16 850 and nothing was recovered.
Anesu Chirenje represented the State.
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