Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka-Chisepo
Court Correspondent
TWO Goromonzi brothers have appeared in court for allegedly defrauding their churchmate of US$21 891 after luring him into a gold-buying business and later falsely claiming the money and gold had been stolen in a robbery.
Tawanda Mutando (38) and Knowledge Mutando (32) appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Ruth Moyo facing fraud charges.
They were granted bail and remanded to a later date.
The complainant, Terence Mashiri, is employed by Blue Stream Finance.
The State alleged that in September 2025, Tawanda approached Mashiri with a proposal to form a partnership in a gold-buying business, and invited him to invest in the venture.
Tawanda allegedly showed Mashiri a permit purporting to have been issued by Fidelity Gold Refinery (Private) Limited, authorising him to operate as a legal gold buyer.
The permit also allegedly listed Knowledge Mutando as an agent.
The court heard that Knowledge was expected to buy gold on the ground, while Tawanda would be responsible for accounting for the money and gold purchased.
After believing the representations, Mashiri allegedly handed Tawanda US$31 700.
In January 2026, Mashiri requested a refund of US$15 000 for personal use.
Two days later, Tawanda allegedly returned only US$5 500, leaving US$26 200 outstanding. The court heard that Knowledge later informed Mashiri that he had purchased 136,82 grammes of gold at a total cost of US$14 571,33.
He allegedly told Mashiri that he was bringing the gold to Harare for safekeeping.
However, upon his arrival in Harare, Knowledge allegedly claimed that he had been robbed and that all the gold and money had been stolen.
A month later, Mashiri allegedly discovered that Knowledge had lied about the robbery and had instead used the money to purchase a residential stand and construct a house in Goromonzi.
The court heard that Mashiri confronted the two accused at their residence, where they allegedly admitted that the robbery story had been fabricated.
The two allegedly agreed to reimburse Mashiri and offered to compensate part of the money by surrendering the residential stand.
The State alleges that as a result of the misrepresentations, Mashiri suffered an actual prejudice of US$21 891.
Only US$6 820 has so far been recovered, the court heard.
