adminmonth in custody.
Mawere (35), who was represented by Mr Benjamin Chidenga of James Makiya Legal Practitioners, was granted bail by High Court Judge Justice Joseph Musakwa, who said the lower court had misdirected itself in denying him bail.
Justice Musakwa said the magistrate who handled the matter had erred in denying Mawere bail by not giving sufficient reasons for denying him bail, saying the magistrate wrote one sentence.
“There was a misdirection on the part of the lower court in the manner in which it gave its ruling.
“In coming to my decision I have not lost sight of the fact that a bad case of the background of the applicant was marred by the prosecutor and the magistrate of the lower court.
“If more attention had been given to this case, the applicant would have failed in his appeal,” he said.
The State alleges that in July 2008, Mawere was approached by Ms Chikukwa, who was working in Australia.
She wanted a divorce and custody order for her child so that she would be able to take her to Australia.
Mawere, it is alleged, demanded R800 for processing of an interim order and an additional R2 500 for the divorce application and Ms Chikukwa paid in full. The lawyer, who was deregistered in 2010, is alleged to have generated a fake custody order which he sent via e-mail to Ms Chikukwa, and as a result she suffered a prejudice of R3 300 and nothing was recovered.
The complainant in the other case is Mr Shelton Mahuni, a partner in Mahuni and Matutu Attorneys. On April 25 Mr Mahuni received information that his law firm was issuing out fake court orders.
On inquiring, it is alleged, Mr Mahuni discovered that Mawere was the one who had misrepresented to a Kadoma miner, Mr Munyaradzi Bidi, and went on to produce a fake court order purportedly issued at the High Court of Zimbabwe by Justice Joseph Musakwa.
Through Mawere’s actions, the State says Mr Bidi was made to pay for services believing that he was a genuine lawyer.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter