adminSenior Court Reporter
A 45-year-old Bulawayo man was sentenced to an effective six months in jail for attempting to defraud a local supermarket by using a fake South African bank visa debit card to buy groceries worth about $400.Eshwell Ngigune Hove of House Number 5981 Nketa suburb was convicted on his own plea by Bulawayo magistrate, Ms Gladmore Mushove.
He was sentenced to nine months in jail of which three months were suspended for three years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar offence.
The prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Mutsindikwa, said on 3 August at about 4.30pm, Hove went to Bonsa Spar Supermarket in Hillside and loaded groceries worth $392.66 into a trolley.
He then proceeded to the till point where he produced a First National Bank (FNB) visa master card and gave it to the till operator, who swiped it on the point-of-sale (POS) payment and debit processing machine.
The card failed to respond prompting the till operator to inform the manager who on scrutinising it discovered that it was not genuine.
A report was made to the police leading to Hove’s arrest and forfeiture of the card.
Online Reporter