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Prosper Dembedza
Herald Correspondent
A 51-year-old Harare man and his two wives have appeared in court on charges of stealing US$29 263 from a St James Anglican Church Warren Park 1 club.
Barbra Matora (39) who was the secretary and custodian of cash and records, Maxwell Chanairwa (51) and Estery Thomu (30) were facing theft of trust property when they appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi.
They were remanded to tomorrow for bail ruling.
The complainant is St James Anglican Church Warren Park 1 Diocese, Rebecca Savings Club being represented by Nomsa Amin Nambale.
Nambale and Matora are congregants at St James Anglican Church Warren Park 1, Harare and are also members of Rebecca Savings Club.
Matora was the secretary and custodian of cash and records of Rebecca Savings Club.
The court heard that sometime during the month of January 2023, members of St James Anglican Church Warren Park 1, Harare, formed a savings group known as Rebecca Savings Group in which all members were entitled to contribute a minimum of US$30 to a maximum of US$300 as savings, plus US$5 emergency fee which was paid monthly.
It is the State’s case that the contributions were made every month during a meeting convened by members.
Contributions from 31 members were received from January 2023, to November 2023, and were handed to accused Matora for safe keeping.
The court heard that on December 2 2023, a meeting was convened by members where it was resolved that the members should be paid their shares on December 9 2023, and Matora was requested to hand over the cash to the group for sharing.
On December 4 2023, complainant received information to the effect that Matora was arrested and detained at Harare Central Police Station for a case of fraud.
This prompted the complainant to approach Matora and requested her to account for their savings group money but the accused failed.
It is alleged that on December 6 2023, complainant made a report to the police, leading to the arrest of Matora and upon being interviewed, she implicated accused Thomu and Chanaiwa as the ones whom she had given the money.
A follow up was made leading to arrest of Thomu and Chanaiwa in the Harare Central Business District.
Total value stolen is USD$29 163 and nothing was recovered.
Online Reporter