happiness Chikwanha
Prosper Dembedza
Herald Correspondent
A former clerk at Takaindisa Law Chambers yesterday appeared in court facing allegations of defrauding the law firm of US$21 000 through doctored receipts.
Christopher Pedzisayi (27) was remanded in custody to today for bail ruling.
The complainant is Takaindisa Law Chambers, represented by Mr Tawanda Takaindisa.
Pedzisayi was a clerk at Takaindisa Law Chambers and was responsible for delivering company documents.
State prosecutor, Mr Thomas Chanakira opposed bail indicating that Pedzisayi provided a wrong address to the court.
“Pedzisayi was arrested around 1 am in a raid. He was evading the police all along and therefore he is a flight risk,” Mr Chanakira argued.
He further submitted that even if Pedzisayi surrendered his travelling documents, the accused person could illegally cross into neighbouring countries.
Pedzisayi is also facing another charge of theft of trust property.
It is the State’s case that between 2018 and February 2024, Takaindisa Law Chambers was representing Mathew Mzengezi in litigation cases.
The client was in arrears of US$48 000.
On February 2 this year, the law firm issued a letter of demand to Mzengezi but he did not respond. This led to the issuance of summons.
On May 25, Takaindisa received an application for rescission of default judgment from Mzengezi with annexures of receipts authored by Pedzisayi from 2020 to 2021.
The receipts indicated that the law firm’s former client had paid a total of US$ 21 000. The law firm therefore suffered a prejudice of US$21 000 and nothing was recovered.
According to court papers, the complainant made a police report, leading to Pedzisayi’s arrest.
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