adminH-Metro Reporter
IN just three days this week, Mai TT’s life changed forever.
From Tuesday to yesterday a dark cloud hung over her and everything exploded when she was handed a nine-month prison term for theft of trust property and domestic violence conviction.
This follows months of trial in which, at times, she appeared to mock the charges she was facing.
On Tuesday, everything looked normal.
She arrived at court dressed as if she was attending a fashion show, complete with six-inch heels and a matching outfit, accompanied by her side-kick, Mopower ‘Wasu’ Gombe, who stood by her till the end.
She was also accompanied by her lawyer Admire Masango.
When the judgment was handed down, Mai TT still looked quite comfortable.
However, it all changed when the State applied that she be remanded in custody in order to check if she didn’t have any previous conviction.
On the same day, an inmate who was performing his duties at court, cooking for other inmates, died mysteriously at court.
The next day, she was no longer the confident and smiling person who had arrived the previous day.
After all, she came to court from remand prison and in a ZPCS vehicle.
Clad in prison garb, Mai TT also wore a mask and a hat, completely obscuring her face.
But, her wig sold her out as it was unique and blonde.
When she was taken for community service vetting, things took another dramatic turn as it was now revealed there was a record showing that she had defaulted on an order to perform community service.
That was the breaking moment for her because that meant a custodial sentence was inevitable.
She still maintained that she didn’t have a previous conviction.
She was ordered to spend the second night in custody while the State went through its archives to retrieve the record from 2015.
It was one for domestic violence against her then husband.
She was ordered to perform 105 hours of community service but, for reasons only known to her, she performed 19 hours and stopped.
When the magistrate pronounced her sentence, Murata didn’t show any emotions but it was clear that her world had changed forever. Wasu broke down for his ‘mhamha’ as she was being taken away.
She still faces a US$10 000 fraud charge in August.
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge